Somewhat Happy Endings
by midori Haru
Summary: When Kagome made her strange request, Sesshoumaru had thought she was mad. But then he looked a little closer and realized, her mad request was the only thing likely to keep her sane in a situation vastly worse than the one she'd suffered during the hunt for Naraku's death. Neglect, it seems, can kill a person slowly.
1. Ch1 A Strange REquest

This story is my first Sesshoumaru/Kagome pairing. It was born out of a stressful period in which _Wild_ was fighting the writing process, work was absurdly unpleasant, and reading through the archives only annoyed me further. Which was probably the worst part about it all. Usually I read to relax, but my tolerance for certain common stereotypes was particularly low and I wanted write. I wanted to write something that wouldn't fight me about it. And as always seems to happen with me, it grew into something unwieldy, involved and somewhat difficult to continue. But it's still going on. I blame Sesshoumaru, he always did have a mind of his own.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga. I asked and received permission to post this from her. So do us a favor and read hers first (If you're old enough) then read mine and reassure her that mine is not a plagiarized copy of hers. I offered to let her read it, but she's outgrown the Inuyasha fandom and wasn't interested. Besides, hers was a one-shot and mine is certainly not (well over 20 chapters so far!)

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**A Strange Request**

Red stained eyes glowed with deleterious intent as they stalked the female through her every oblivious move. She was following a particular routine, perfunctorily going about the last of her daily chores as she had done all of the six days previous to this one that he had watched her, studied her routine and calculated every moment of vulnerability that he could exploit. Choosing the exact moment he desired for this particular night.

Tonight when she reached the correct moment of her regular day, her life was going to be thoroughly interrupted.

In the meantime, he choked the very air around her with his youki as he had done intermittently over the past days of his observations forcing her every inhale to draw more of his aura into her lungs where he imagined it took over control there. It appealed to him the thought that he was already tainting her most personal depths, usurping her body's unconscious control and conquering more of her with every breath. As darkness approached he fancied he could discern an increase in the labor of her breathing. He certainly didn't want her completely oblivious to his presence, nor did he desire her to know when to expect his move. She was off-balance when his energy stained the atmosphere about her, but failed to show it beyond the obvious change in her scent and the altering pace of her heart beat and laboring lungs.

She had no idea what this night held in store for her, that this night would be any different from any other where she had known of his watching. And he found he rather enjoyed the irony of it. Tonight, it would be he who controlled her, her pleasure, her pain, the sounds she could make, and the blood she would shed. It was all his and he'd never considered how enticing the mere thought of such an idea could be.

He needed the high of throwing his control out to take over the powerful creature who even now had begun her last walk to what she had no way of knowing would be her fate. Ultimate or not, this night would change some things irrevocably for her. And for him.

But at this moment, in the growing twilight that heralded the ever nearing moment of action, he cared little for the consequences. If he cared to consider them at all. Daylight was the time for responsible thoughts, and the day was fast yielding to the night of reckless abandon and the luxuries of fantasies.

The woman silently deposited her tools in their designated spot after dutifully cleaning them for temporary storage before disappearing into the small, poor excuse for a hut that she called home. He had no intent of trespassing there tonight. The little miko felt secure there and he would expect her to think he would take her there where prying eyes were less likely to see. Clandestine though this interlude was meant to be, the great youkai had no intention of confining his night within a ramshackle hut. No, her surrender to her conqueror would be bared for all the kami to see beneath a pantheon of stars.

His attention perked up pointedly, as the female emerged from the darker confines of the hut into the lengthening shadows of day's end. Her movements were sure and steady as she unhesitatingly traversed the well worn path that lead to the hot spring created from a long finished youkai battle for her nightly bath. The masculine predator dogged her footsteps as only one of his caliber could. With each step he pumped more of his youki into the air, allowing his purpose to taint the roiling pool of power and scaring off all the lesser youkai in the area along with most of the prey. All but the prey he was currently hunting. He took a moment to discard the armor that would only get in his way, he wouldn't need it this night.

She might have been able to sense the energy itself, but the finer points of intent were lost to her. And he preferred it that way. It was enough she knew he was there. He didn't feel like chasing his prize through the woods.

Patiently he waited once she reached the steaming pool. The weather of late had warmed enough to melt the last of winter's snow, but the nights still held the bite of the withdrawing season. Despite the frigid air, the miko had only missed a bath once in the last six days and he was determined she would miss it once again. She just didn't know it yet.

The female carefully stepped out of the fragile Zori that had seen better days. With deliberate motions she stripped her feet of the oft stained tabi before carefully rolling them up and setting them gently atop the fraying straw of her shoes and he held his breath, gathering his muscles for the moment that was fast approaching.

In a perfectly natural pace, the female untied the himo that kept her crimson hakama in place during her work. Her efforts were deliberate and absent, performed without conscious thought it seemed. The female was distracted, which he would allow, for now. It made the element of surprise so much more obtainable.

With practiced motions to preserve the customary seven creases in the fabric, the female gently slid the garment from her waist and carefully guided it down her legs until she was ready to step out of the cloth pooled around her ankles and her pale, bare ass winked at him in the darkness drawing attention to the real target and announcing the arrival of his moment.

In a silent rush, he had closed the distance left between him and his prey, removing his obi and quickly tying one end securely about her wrists and the other snugly about her head to gag all the sounds she might be tempted to make. The onsen was far closer to the village than her lonesome hut and he had no wish for his pleasure to be interrupted by some fool rushing to rescue the unknown screamer in the night.

With quick movements, he shoved his victim over a rock chosen for this purpose, kicking her discarded hakama under her knees and propping her front up by her trapped, clothed arms. Any harm done her this night would be by his conscious decisions and not by mere chance and happenstance. His knees forced her bent legs wide enough to accommodate his hips, perhaps spreading her farther than was comfortable for her.

With calculated, forceful motions he pressed her down and gathered her haori up out of his way before briefly removing the pressure to her back holding her down to line up his eager invader with the desired prize. A moment later, his clawed hand resumed its goal of flattening the female into the boulder as he drove into the unplundered depths of her kami given inner sanctuary without restraint.

The first forceful thrust of his cock tore into her long forgotten hymen, the surprise of its existence failed to register above the drive to pull back and plunge in deeper. The startled, pained squeak of his prey nearly induced a malicious chuckle as he continued to use her body. Her muscles were slick and tight, providing an ecstasy of friction as he moved against her.

With measured movements, he varied the depth and the strength of his thrusts until he had dragged the desired pleasure responses from his captured female. His desire was to prove just how little control she had in all of this. She would be raw from his actions, bruised, and empty by the time he was through. And she would enjoy it, against her will if need be, but she would know his power was absolute. But that was many hours off.

There was much to enjoy in this night and he planned to enjoy all that he could. Every female offered a banquet of orifices to exploit if one knew how best to use them. She would feel him for days, the ghost of his nocturnal abuse would ride over and under her skin long into the future.

He kept moving, experimenting with depth and angle to find how best to force the female's pleasure until he finally found a satisfactory number of triggers to set off a riot of pleasure on her behalf that also brought moments of orgasm for himself. Filling her with his seed and her own honey until she spilled over. The scent of her blood mixed with his toxic essence perfumed the air like an aphrodisiac, spurring him to more violently delve into her body with claws tangled in the worn clothing over her back and the plundering weapon that proved his gender, all while taunting him with the desire to taste of his efforts with deep applications of his tongue to the source.

There was no opportunity for him to do so at this moment. The female was not so exhausted she couldn't attempt to escape him should he give her the opportunity, but he still desired to taste of that heady aroma with other senses than his nose. With a growl, he raked the claws of his hand over the white collar of her haori, shredding the fabric and drawing red lines across the back of her previously unmarred shoulder. With a delighted smirk, he leaned forward to drag his rough tongue over the ruptured flesh, digging in slightly with his teeth when he found the flow beginning to ease before he was ready.

The taste of his poison mixed with the burning power of her blood shot straight to the pleasure centers of his brain and he began to thrust into the female's body more vigorously, jarring her forward with every meeting of his pelvis to her delectable rump and rocking her back with each lightning quick withdrawal from her tight body.

Oh she would revel in the rapture of his control long after he released her from it. He would make certain of it. For now he simply drew out orgasm after orgasm in effort to prove his ultimate control over her body and exhaust her for later plans. He had no intention to let this be his only method of contact with the woman. She could not see him as he plumbed the depths of her body. He couldn't force her to watch him as he dragged pleasure responses from her battered person. She could pretend he was other than who he was, and this was unacceptable. Only he had conquered her and only he would receive credit. Psychological warfare at its best.

But he would not rush to that portion of his evening. After all, his victim offered him many possibilities and he intended to explore at least two of them before his time was up.

Just as he was certain the female was beginning to get used to his irregular paced invasion, he chose to change it up. The slickness he had built between her body and his, as much her natural lubricant as his mildly corrosive seed, would be sufficient to ease the damage dealt in pursuit of his next delight.

With deliberate movements he lifted the steady pressure that had been constantly mashing his victimized woman into the rock he allowed to support her in order to properly line up for the next tempting orifice that had winked at him earlier and every night prior as he watched her nightly ritual. With one sharp movement he had found a new entry to the female, the added tightness of which nearly caused him to release in the initial thrust. Such simply wouldn't do. She wasn't supposed to be able to make him do anything.

Luckily the female distracted him by attempting to fight this latest intrusion with renewed rebellion.

He frowned in displeasure. Though glad she had prevented him from releasing prematurely, he had to force her to enjoy this penetration before he would allow her to know his enjoyment of it after all, he was irritated that she thought she had any say in the matter. He was in control. Fighting against his control was very bad for her.

And to prove this, he forced her trapped arms out from under her upper torso until her front lay uncomfortably flush with the unforgiving surface of the rough rock and her lower unclothed belly was forced to scrape against it with each thrust and retreat he made, his hand insuring this by applying the pressure previously felt on her shoulder to her lower back. The tender flesh there quickly became raw, then it became bloody adding to the slickness trickling to collect in the cloth placed to protect her knees.

He had to smirk at that. The fabric would be forever stained with their fluids and combined scent no matter how many washings it might see in the time to come, a permanent reminder of these activities.

The passing thought was abandoned as the female's reluctant orgasm tightened the muscles of her body despite the blood seeping from the scrapes over her abdomen, the sting of his toxins biting at her shoulder and the burning, stretched emptiness eating her womb. She was already familiar with pain as every living creature always would be, but he was determined she would know that even filled with agony he could force pleasure from her body.

And then he found his own pleasure in a singular moment in which he simultaneously managed to force her own. The sheath he'd buried his cock in tightened almost painfully around him, drawing out his pleasure before the body under him went completely limp.

Hn, she'd fainted. Whether from overload or exhaustion was little matter, as he willfully withdrew only to plunge once more into the first chasm of pleasure, riding the unconscious tremors that racked her body even while her mind was shut down.

His eyes glowed with self-satisfied triumph, as even while she was unconscious he controlled her pleasure. He emptied once more before he withdrew from the female entirely and pulled her body from its hunched position over the boulder to lay gently flat on her back with her abused bottom protected from the gritty dirt by the much stained red hakama she'd never had the chance to properly fold, the seven creases of virtue long rubbed out in his conquest of her body and senses.

With irreverent motions he kicked her feet apart, then nudged her knees wider, his booted feet widening the path he intended to follow with that marauding part of him that was already standing to attention, preparing to master this female once again. Not being one to deny himself in this state of mind, he lowered to his knees before reaching up to unravel his obi from her hands, knowing she hadn't the strength left to do him damage. In the space of one more breath he plunged once more into the depths of her and waited, propping himself up with his one hand while studying the delicate features of her face. There were lines there he never remembered seeing before, but then, he'd never studied his victim this close up.

He gave a wickedly violent thrust that jarred through her and drew a new crease between her brows as she slowly returned to consciousness, confused as to just why she was being thus roused. Slowly her eyes blinked open and he leaned down to growl in her ear "You will watch my conquest. You will acknowledge my rule over your body." He nipped her ear, "Or you will be left desperate to do so."

Then he reared back again and thrust forcefully against her already bruised, abused folds, dragging a near silent whimper from the female even as her eyes strained to remain open, leaking tears of painful pleasure and desperate abandon all the while attempting to focus her near blind gaze upon his every move in the darkness of the moonless night. He'd wanted her off balance. He'd wanted her to acknowledge his dominion. And he'd wanted the slight edge of her anxiety for he was certainly well aware that she could see almost nothing of him except the red glow of his eyes as he stared her down. And knowing such he knew her awareness of his intrusion was heightened to amazing extents for a human.

He knew she couldn't help but hear the slap of his flesh on hers as it echoed through the steamy air and silent night. She could hear her own breathing as it punctuated the violation of her flesh with each hitch of pain and near gasp of pleasure around the knotted silk that kept her noises in. She could probably even smell her own blood, smell the reality of his seed as it dribbled down to form an ever growing stain under her body, and scent the sweat of his body as it mixed with hers. She had to be very aware of every raw patch of skin, every scratch and scrape, and every mark he'd left on her person.

And he knew she'd be aware of that last for at least days to come if not longer. He wasn't too knowledgeable on the healing ability of humans. Perhaps she would scar.

He rather liked that, the thought of her branded forever as having been his.

The sky began to lighten with predawn light, curtailing his fun and he growled belligerently. The vibrations of which set off the last orgasm in his victim for the night in turn dragging his own climax from him in response after which the female succumbed to her exhaustion and he withdrew.

Carefully, he corrected his clothing, unwinding his obi from around her head and tying it expertly in its proper place at his waist. Then he looked to caring for his female, so that she wouldn't catch infection in the open wounds he'd delivered to her. His tongue carefully bathed the scrapes across her tummy and removed the excess fluids irritating the delicate tissues collected around his targeted prizes, savoring the taste of the last. Her virgin blood was a delicate treat he'd never get to sample again. With gentle motions he drew her up to lean against his crouched form so he could assess the stripes he'd left over her shoulder and treat them properly as well.

Humans could die from infections, he knew. And this night had never been about breaking her, or killing her, on purpose or by accident.

The golden disc finally breached the horizon and began its awaited ascent into the heavens of a new day, announcing the end of his time to touch the miko.

Sesshoumaru stepped back and waited. It wouldn't do to leave the miko unguarded and unconscious, especially with her shield down to broadcast her scent to him as he'd required when she'd made her request. It still amazed him she'd made such a request, though not as much as when she first broached the subject.

The miko, Kagome, had requested he rape her and violently too, and despite his unflappable facade, he'd been quite unable to process her words for several moments after she'd uttered them. He'd never even heard of anyone making such a request. Most females he'd encountered who had been subject to such behavior never wanted anything to do with a male again, especially if the encounter had been violent.

But then, this particular miko had always been unusual.

The qualifiers she'd put on her request were actually sensible ones despite the insanity of asking to be raped. He wasn't to break anything particularly important, such as rib bones, or any of the other skeletal supports required to protect her internal organs and nothing almost impossible to heal. She'd given him the night in which to grant her request, any night so long as it was dark was at his discretion, though she did suggest the new moon. The days were generally filled with duties and unplanned visits to demand her aid and she had no desire of being found out.

When he'd asked her why, her reasons had likewise been well thought out. A miko who didn't want to be mistaken for a whore as so many had become in these dark times, could not publicly take a lover. Were she to take a human lover in secret, the secret would soon become known as all such secrets generally did. Were she to take a youkai lover, she would be more than the outcast she was now. Instead of neglecting her as the village she had once taken for a home now did, they would hunt her down to demean her, rape her, and beat her. In all of the above she would end a whore, willingly or not. And passing travelers were out of the question for the same reason. This was not the age of one-night stands as she called them.

The only way she could maintain her status and achieve physical intimacy were if she were raped, violently enough so that no one would suspect she wanted it if it were ever found out. And she only trusted Sesshoumaru enough to be able to do so without it being an exceptionally fatal mistake on her part. Or so Sesshoumaru gathered from the silences she had matured enough to leave silent.

And she promised to keep her reiki to herself should he chose to grant her request.

He'd made one stipulation after ascertaining the miko had no designs to trap him in a relationship beyond the uneasy allies they had once been before Naraku's demise had torn her world apart. The miko had taken to shielding her scent for her own safety after she'd been driven out of the village by her former friends, he demanded she lower it in his presence.

He had not given a firm decision whether or not he would grant her request. But he required she allow him to scent her before he would even consider it.

He'd been pondering the miko's request for months, still confused as to why someone as pure as Kagome, as spirited and independent could ever wish for him to do such a thing. Sesshoumaru had needed more information, so he'd taken to visiting his Rin more often under the guise of insuring her safety after the old village miko's death of the previous Autumn. Originally he'd intended to remove her to his current abode, but the child he'd once cared for was to be married before the year was out and her betrothed lived in the village.

So instead, he'd set Jaken as her guardian in his stead and came to visit far more often than he formerly had.

In each trip he set aside time to watch and study the miko. Sometimes he tested her by sending out his youki to announce his presence, waiting for her scent to be released. More often he observed her without letting her know of his close proximity. Mostly the second coincided with any interaction she had with any creature that came begging for aid or to demean and debase her.

It was then he'd learned how the miko had come to live alone and isolated from what had once been her closest friends and allies. And the final battle against Naraku had spawned it all.

Sesshoumaru had been there when the little miko, a half-trained girl then, had single-handedly taken down the grotesque hanyou in a lucky blaze of power and determination. There had been more casualties than the spider that day and it appeared it was the little miko who'd been designated – wrongly – to pay for them.

Inuyasha blamed Kagome for the death of Kikyou, as the release and return of the little miko's soul had been the catalyst for Naraku's end. As such the inu hanyou son of his great and terrible father had upped the ante on his constant verbal and emotional abuse.

Sesshoumaru imagined the miko could have withstood it had he been the only one to blame her for the deaths that occurred that day. But the slayer blamed her former sister in arms for the death of the monk and the tortured boy that had been her brother. The monk had been taken by the void in his hand, as had the boy and the reanimated bones of the former keeper of the Shikon no Tama. Kagome had been lucky to get her soul back at all and without it, would never have defeated Naraku.

That was not how her detractors perceived it though.

Sometime in the aftermath of that battle the slayer and hanyou had mated, united under their desire to make the little miko pay for the wrongs they believed she had committed against their deceased loved ones. They used the union for nothing more than to cause pain to their one time travel companion. Going so far as to rut at the onsen just to prevent Kagome's bath as they had the one night the miko had skipped her nightly cleansing ritual in the last seven days.

He'd also learned it was the only time the mated pair pursued such physical intimacies.

Beyond this, Inuyasha ran by the dilapidated hut Kagome somehow maintained on her own every three days to dress her down verbally. Each time, Sesshoumaru had witnessed the atrocious barrage of words his own blood had dared to say about a female, human or not, former ally or not, he'd been disgusted by the shared genetics. Had the hanyou actually raised a hand against her, the inu probably would have leapt forward to end his miserable life just to stop the dishonor brought to his family line.

But now he understood, somewhat, why the miko would desire physical intimacy to the point of allowing violence to be visited upon her person.

Humans required a certain amount of tactile contact to retain their tenuous grasp on sanity and their desperation and zest for life. Some require less than others, but the miko had never been one to settle for as little as she'd been forced to suffer the last several years. She was desperate to feel physically close to another living creature. If there had been another orphan for her to take in, she might have been better off, but after Rin and her Shippou had grown beyond the casual hugging stage, she'd lost that comfort.

Two hours after the sun had risen, the miko surprised him by stirring awake. She didn't start by opening her eyes but rather curling up on her side as though she desired to make herself as small as possible. From his vantage point he could see in the growing light how the scratches on her shoulder had long since stopped seeping the blood drawn there, though her semi-white haori would never be free of the red stains that now decorated it.

He moved silently around to observe the abused portions of her anatomy left exposed when she drew her knees up to her chest. He was startled to note the abused flesh still seeped crimson-stained fluid over the reddened, irritated skin abused during the night. Perhaps he'd caused more damage than he'd intended

The miko let out a hoarse groan and shoved against the ground to prop herself up on her hip rather than her sore bottom. One hand planted itself in the damp, mushy ground while the other attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes. Finally she looked up, startled to find Sesshoumaru's clawed hand outstretched to lend her aid in rising. She gave him a brief wincing smile before placing her smaller hand in his much larger one, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome breathed gratefully despite the raw spikes of pain introducing themselves to her brain. She was exhausted and very sore, but she still had chores to do regardless. And she wasn't nearly so sore as she could've been given the license she'd invited him to take.

"You are damaged," the inu lord stated. Sesshoumaru was still uncertain as to how he should react to the events of the night. Her reaction wasn't what he expected.

Kagome blinked at him before, giving him a rueful smile, "It's nothing that won't heal." His concern for her was surprising, since she'd rather expected to suffer greater injuries than he'd actually delivered. Kagome had expected to shed more blood than the minor amount she had and was still losing. Don't get her wrong, her body was screaming at her to stop moving around and go back to sleep, especially every cleft and crevice below her waist but she'd really expected to suffer greater damage than the simple loss of her hymen and the general bruised feeling surrounding her pelvis.

"Your Reiki." the inu began, somehow not liking the thought that she could just heal all the damage that had been so painstakingly delivered to her fragile skin. Red flashed his displeasure through the amber eyes gazing fixedly at her face despite the flesh exposed beyond the ends of her haori. Once on her feet the white cloth had draped back into place, falling to about mid thigh, gracing her with a minor amount of modesty but still exposing the toned flesh of her long legs.

Kagome's eyes darted to the side and down, "It doesn't work that way. It can help to prevent infections, but I still have to heal it like anybody else, some of it will scar, that's just a reality of life." Though she doubted there would be too much scarring, if any and nothing she couldn't easily cover up. He really had gone easier on her than she'd foreseen.

Sesshoumaru gave a sharp nod, filing the information away for future use. His ever observant eyes noting the flashes of pain across her face as her weight shifted restlessly from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable and eager to return to her regular routine, or what constituted normalcy for this little discarded miko. "I will take my leave miko."

Kagome nodded absently, mildly surprised he hadn't left already. "Thank you again, Sesshoumaru-sama," her words conveyed her gratitude for a number of things including the abuse he'd delivered unto her in the night.

The inu lord gave another sharp nod to himself before he abruptly left the clearing in search of where he'd deposited his armor the night before. He'd planned his night to include an Inuyasha free morning after for her. He'd intended it to allow her to bask in the afterglow if she'd enjoyed it or deal with the aftermath if she hadn't. The little miko needed time to herself after such an event and he had the sneaking suspicion she had just thanked him for that added gift as well.


	2. Ch2 Stress Relief

One thing I'm sure I will hear about after this chapter: yes, I am aware that Bakusaiga was born from Sesshoumaru with the regrowth of his arm. I know this happened before the death of Naraku (really, I'm rather surprised nobody commented on the one-armed reality in the last chapter). We'll just say that Sesshoumaru underestimated someone else and lost it again. Or we could decide that he fought some other taiyoukai who was near equal in strength and skill, enough so that, while Sesshoumaru was victorious, he did not come out of the altercation unscathed. Or we could just decide the author was stupid. In which case I'm going to call it artistic license.

Oh, and for those who have read my Author's notes/rants from _Wild,_ I started a new job at the beginning of July. I like my new job a whole lot better than the old one I was trapped in for almost five years. I think I'll like it a eve more when we're officially up and running at full capacity!

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Stress Relief**

The youkai rushed back through the wooded expanse of ground in the direction of his prey.

After their last encounter, inspiration – and the rainy season – had struck, and he was more than ready to exploit another moment of the female's fairly consistent routine. And he had it on good authority that her chores had been slightly delayed, so despite the closing darkness, he had every hope of catching her right where he wanted her.

He paused momentarily to discard the metal plates that he usually wore to protect his body before allowing his youki to flow ahead of him. It would barely reach her senses before he pounced her into the soggy, muddy ground that was her unripened herb garden, but it would give her a few minutes for the cream to start preparing her body to ease his first plunge into her depths.

When he first spotted her outside her hut, she was already bent over, working at the soil despite the rain that had long ago drenched her clothing and the ground beneath her. He couldn't imagine what she thought to accomplish, but he really didn't care as he swiped at the red material blocking him from his goal ignoring the way his claws caught a bit on her skin as he exposed his target. Almost with the same movement he wrapped the swath of silk he'd brought for this express purpose around her head to gag her. He had no desire of going deaf at present.

Without any further warning, he laid her out flat on her face with her rump still in the air to receive him. He carefully pushed aside the silk that clothed him and set upon her, shoving his fully engorged staff all but viciously into her still somewhat unprepared body all but knocking her back on her face from the half finished effort to support her upper body above the mud with her arms. The sharp scent of iron through the rain informed his pointedly apathetic mind he may have damaged her, but all that mattered to him was the reality of his cock wrapped snugly in the warmth of a tight female body.

He heard her grunt over the pounding rain that punished her body even as he did the same more intrusively with every thrust. With quick movements designed to rob her of breath, his claws clasped about the bones of her hip, piercing the skin there negligently even while he held her in place. In quick succession he forced her first three orgasms from her sprawled body trying to decide if the dual sensation of damp cold alternating with scorching heat on his sensitive organ was excessively kinky or mildly off putting before his own orgasm provided a decision for him. His growl of amused completion shoved the little female over the precipice into a fourth orgasm on her part.

It was as he began to contemplate what abuse he next wished to deliver unto her tender, rain-slicked flesh that he realized the limitations presented by the location he had chosen.

At the hot spring, he'd had a boulder to prop her against, freeing his only hand to simply restrain her or cause damage whenever the urge struck. The flat ground offered no such support. He had to use his hand to hold her in an accessible position, which left her free to move more than he wished her to. He could not have her hold herself up or move under her own will. That would imply that she had some control in the situation, control he was unwilling to relinquish.

With a growl he dropped her uncoordinated orgasm ridden body into the mud, trying to work out a solution to this little obstruction to his evening plans. In his state of distracted displeasure he began to remove the obi at his waist and the rest of his silk from his person to prevent from staining it further in the mud when his elbow knocked against the weapons he'd left tied to his side. Inspiration struck him and his expression changed to evil satisfaction.

While the female was temporarily overwhelmed in the aftermath of his initial conquest of her body, he used the shredded material of her own hakama to tie her individual limbs to the stakes she'd left in her garden to mark rows. Calculating the necessary force, he shoved the shortened pieces of wood more firmly in the watery ground to ensure that the latest twist in his plot went off without incident.

The woman was just beginning to regain her regular sense when he wedged the sheathed end of Bakusaiga into the mud, failing to care about the desecration of his sword when the only other option was to use tenseiga, and he refused to let even an inanimate piece of another male get anywhere near to intimate with the flesh of his female. With careful judgment as to the proper angle, he then wrapped his only arm firmly around his captured female and drew her back onto the hilt of his sword, uncaring of her physical attempts to protest the intrusion of something so rough and irregular and obviously not meant to go _there_.

The night was his playground and she was subject to his whims as they developed and were implemented. She didn't really have a say. And he desired to utilize the grip of his sword, made of his body and therefore an extension of his power. It was the only acceptable prop present and she would deal with it, even enjoy it before he was through. A satisfied smirk played about his mouth at the reality of his control.

It aroused him more than he already was and he quickly sought to satisfy his intensified hunger by immediately plunging into the hole left open to him.

He was instantly aware of the new sensations brought about by the presence of a second intruder inside his victim. She was tighter, and he fancied a bit more uncomfortable at present, but he couldn't get over the reality of brushing against something solid amidst the soft reception her body gave him. It was a new experience, and the kinkiness of it stroked him in a strange way he couldn't decide whether he truly enjoyed beyond the newness of it and the brilliance of his resourcefulness or not.

With a sharp, absent nod, he decided for this night, if not any other, he would not allow his confusion over it to detract from the overall pleasure of forcing it on the little female trapped beneath him, filled so completely by him and his control. He had no fear of damaging the sword with his poisonous fluids as it had come from him and therefore was immune to such things.

He kept the fierce pace of his thrusting, relentless and demanding she shudder repeatedly in physical release as his newly freed hand roamed down to the small button of nerves he'd never had the chance to play with until now. Last time the solid shield of the rock had mostly prevented his desire to diddle with the small pearl, but now the prop had left nothing but air under her front and he was free to abuse it as he pleased.

And abuse it he did. Wickedly with the pads of his fingers gradually being stained by her cream and his semen, and occasionally with the edge of a deadly claw. Her reactions to the last were often more ungovernable than otherwise and he decided that before he left off her this night he would let a privileged claw leave some lasting damage there. Nothing serious, but definitely a scratch, thin and red to remind her of his power over her beyond the bruises she would feel with every move she made.

The thought made him grin as he forced another orgasm from her with the pad of his thumb.

The humming convulsions of her body ended with the collapse of her upper body into the ground, constricting her breath with the threat of drowning in the pool of mud that had collected under her face. He growled in annoyance as his hand was forced to leave off his enjoyable play in order to lift her trembling torso away from the ground. He got back at her by pushing his hand under her hoari and undergarments, slicing through the cloth bindings she wore underneath to cup her breast in his hand and sink his claw bitingly into the sensitive flesh.

This sharp pain caused her to jerk up and back, driving her further onto him in a forward thrust and consequently further onto the hilt of Bakusaiga so abruptly the sharp scent of tears erupted moments before she orgasmed around his own climax, leaving him half-blind with the pleasure of it.

She immediately passed out afterward, and he nearly chuckled when he came down from the high caused by their joint rapture.

It was definitely a stroke to his ego that he could so overwhelm her with so little effort.

Using the minimal required effort, he removed his invading implement from her body and quickly freed her from the prop, shoving her limp body forward into the mud. He reached back to release her ankles from the shredded cloth restraints with a sharp yank that intentionally left friction burns on the woman's fragile skin.

The marks wouldn't be permanent, as he well knew, but it was just so delicious to mark her skin, even if it was a secret.

He maneuvered her limbs and torso until she lay with her back to the watery earth, her arms crossed uncomfortably over her head so that he could drive home once more as she was just managing to regain her faculties. This was truly what had first turned him on about this idea. In this position it was nearly as if he was planting his seed in the earth itself. Each thrust pushed her body further into the receptive, freshly awoken soil. Her garden of herbs was something she tended daily, the plants used in her efforts to heal the sick and injured.

He was youkai enough to appreciate the possibility of tainting her efforts just a touch and the reality of forcing his attentions on the Earth itself appealed to the megalomaniac within. It was all about control and power. Those were the elements that drove his world. And to simulate throwing his control over something as implacable as the very Earth itself...

Then there were no thoughts as temporarily his brain melted down in the physical release he'd been gearing towards with every convulsive tightening of the woman's muscles.

The smirking satisfaction that followed nearly robbed him of the realization that the sky was still dark, leaving him more than enough time to try something else.

Thinking fast, he grabbed Bakusaiga and wedged it in the ground so that it stood straight up, perpendicular to the ground. With little effort he hefted her unconscious body off the muddy ground snapping the remaining shreds of cloth holding her in place.

The little female let out a muffled moan to signal her slow return to consciousness. Her rousing helped to keep her from flopping around bonelessly, but he suspected she would protest the actions he had in mind if she woke completely before he finished the setup for their last set of carnal acrobatics of the night.

With a firm yet careful move, he planted the woman once more on the hilt of Bakusaiga and stood back a step to admire his work trailing the grasping arms of the uncomfortable woman. She obviously felt vulnerable at her position as the sword upon which she was propped was too tall for her to plant her feet properly. She was precariously at risk of toppling over, or so she felt.

He was rather enjoying her near instinctive clutching at him, relying on him to keep her from toppling over. She should look to him to keep her safe, for it was his prerogative whether she survived the night in one piece or not. Lucky for her, he preferred to keep her in mostly one piece.

One deliberate step forward, he leaned down to growl in her ear, "Eyes on me," he demanded. The rolling rumble that filled his chest warning enough as to what would happen if she failed to cooperate. Then he bent his knees, lined his cock up and thrust forcefully up against her already bruised flesh, the height at which she was propped was just about right to be comfortable for him, not for her. It hardly mattered since after the first few initial thrusts one of her shaking legs came up to clutch about his hip.

This last effort quickly came to its culmination in an explosive ecstasy that swept both of them over the edge and into the depths of insensibility. Even he lost sight of what was around them and the possibility of being discovered or endangered in the midst of their intended clandestine activities. To allow such was insanity as nothing good could come of it.

The woman slumped in post orgasmic fatigue as he once more disengaged and stepped away. He moved far enough away for him to see his handy work in its entirety. There was something so appealing in the way she hung there, limp and well used. Her exhaustion was...gratifying.

Beyond her, the gray predawn light crested over the rolling waters in the distance. He'd never realized the view her hut offered from this angle. He would have thought the lowlands flooded with trees would prevent any view of the sea, but the damage wrought over the landscape during the quest to complete the Shikon no Tama and defeat the vile Hanyou menace had taken its toll on the trees and the forest was slow to reclaim the ground given up by fallen trees during the ruckus.

While the new trees at the edge of the woman's gardens screened her from bandits and the view of the village that eschewed her company, they did not prevent a majestic view of the faraway ocean, the horizon and the harbingers of dawn.

He nearly let out a petulant sigh at the the ending of the night. His time of play was coming to a close and he was displeased at the reality of it.

Not one to pout about the inevitable, he swiftly donned his clothing saving the obi and weapons for last. With even strides he returned to face the female taking in her appearance as if it was a piece of art, a thing of beauty rarely seen. If he looked at her from just the right angle he could catch a view down her rumpled hoari and juban to see a number of the reddened, bleeding marks he'd left with his claws around her breast.

A smirk developed as one last lightning bolt of creativity lit through his brain before snapping out with his clawed hand to insert two fingers where two swords had invaded before. In a seemingly effortless show of strength, he lifted her sore body off the hilt of Bakusaiga and lowered her again onto unsteady feet ignoring the tight grip of her two hands at his shoulders. He momentarily refused to remove his hand when she attempted to step back, giving her a hard glare before digging a little deeper with his fingers before dragging them out sodden with fluids, his and hers. Without forgetting to run a damaging claw over the sensitive bundle of nerves he'd discovered the use of, he brought the stained digits up to his mouth to savor the taste that had been teasing him with its aroma all night. He kept his eyes on the woman, making note of the shudder that shook through her in the shimmering rain that had yet to let up from the day before.

The female blinked the water out of her eyes to continue staring at him enjoying their flavor on his fingers in the slowly brightening light. There was no curiosity or desire in her gaze, for he had worn her out too thoroughly for such thoughts to even occur to her.

Though a different sort of thought did occur to her.

It had always bothered the miko the dismemberment the youkai in front of her had suffered and with the sun rising, she was free to act on her thought. Tightening her steady grip on the shoulders of her red-eyed attacker before allowing her reiki to flow down her arm and over his skin. In one burst of holy pyrotechnics, his arm regenerated from the stub he kept well hidden in rich silks and armor.

His angry growl startled her into stepping back, bumping her hip against the sword still planted behind her. "What?" She blurted in confusion not understanding his sudden display of upset.

His gaze swept pointedly from her face to the view beyond her and Kagome turned swiftly just in time to catch the first sliver of the sun as it peeked over the horizon officially announcing the end of the night. "Oh," Kagome said dully. She had encroached upon his time and broken her promise. She swiftly turned back around and bowed to Sesshoumaru in apology. "I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama," she declared plainly without adding anything more. The fact that she hadn't been looking in the right direction to see her faux pas for what it was would hold no weight with the angered youkai before her whether he was amber-eyed and in control or red-eyed and relinquishing his self-control. Her movements caused her great pain as they tugged at well exercised muscles, but it was nothing she hadn't suffered through before at one time or another.

Sesshoumaru glared down at the miko's apology. It was insufficient recompense in his opinion. She had broken her word and despite the fact her actions had ultimately benefited him beyond the bounds of their simple, if unusual arrangement, to break her word in such a way was dishonorable. And he despised individuals that supported such behavior.

However, he had just spent the hours of darkness addling her senses and he had planted her with her back to the sunrise, so he was partially at fault for her mistake. Especially since her original request had only been for one brief interlude rather than a recurring appointment.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in judgment for he had more information than she did.

After all, he was the only one aware of why there had been a second episode where only one had been intended.

When he'd left her over a moon ago, the taiyoukai had no intention of allowing a repeat of what he had considered minor insanity. He'd been mad to even allow himself to be drawn into the miko's request no matter how it had intrigued and aroused his interest in the end. But it had already been too late to undo what he had done. He'd done the honorable thing and waited until she was awake to take care of herself and exited the scene of his foolishness swiftly to return to his regular duties as a lord.

Sesshoumaru hadn't realized the true repercussions of his actions until he'd resumed the mantle he'd chosen to set aside for the hours of the night where he'd allowed himself the freedom to become lost in the soft flesh of the female bowing contritely before him. He'd never noticed how stressed out he was on a general basis until he'd been forced to resume his responsibility after having found such unabashed and unrestrained release with the miko.

Muscles he'd never known were constantly tensed had relaxed and their slow return to tension had been a revelation. And uncomfortable. He'd never been so aware of the little aches that had previously been constant and ignored. More than that, he'd found his well controlled temper less difficult to control as what had been small irritations against the background noise of general annoyance had become less grating in the silence left after the release of all his previous stresses. It wasn't completely unbelievable, but it was an annoyance all its own.

But he also noticed that he had become more effective in head on confrontations, especially physical altercations. His muscles had seemingly responded well to the small amount of perfect rest he'd gotten after returning home and sleeping the best sleep he could recall achieving.

It had opened Sesshoumaru's eyes as to the benefits to be gained from repeating the initial activities that had encouraged him to let go of everything that kept him tense long enough to loosen his taut nerves. He'd found himself seeking moments of true relaxation by planning out what he'd like to do next to the miko's exploitable body, refining and discarding each new plan until he'd found one that really appealed to him before starting over again.

The inu youkai had not really intended to act on it.

Until yesterday when he'd talked to Rin.

After establishing something of a schedule for visiting his ward in the time when he'd been gathering information on the miko before the first episode, Sesshoumaru had been unable to cut back on the number of visits without arousing questions he didn't care to deal with at present. Luckily his visits didn't have to be long, just often so it hardly cut into his regular duties at all.

What had been more difficult than visiting Rin so often was resisting the opportunity to spy on the miko at some point before or after every visit.

Before it had been an effort to understand the reasoning behind her crazy request. Afterward he'd wanted to see how well the miko was healing from his semi-rough treatment and the emotional fall out of his benevolence in granting her request. And damn if he hadn't succumbed to his own habit and curiosity on more than one occasion. Part of his failure to break the habit was due to Rin's irregular schedule of visiting the miko whenever the mood struck her. The unacknowledged part had to do with the temptation to repeat his activities with the miko herself.

Up until yesterday he'd assumed that Rin's desire to occasionally visit the miko had been due to a fondness for Kagome.

Yesterday he'd caught Rin on her way back to the village from a visit with the miko, the young woman she'd become looked a little out of place in the shadowy confines of the trees. She was meant to stand in the sun, amidst a field of wild flowers as she'd always loved to be as a girl. It was only after they'd begun to talk as he escorted her back to her late mentor's residence that Sesshoumaru understood how little he knew about the adult Rin.

Rin had ever remained a talkative creature and it was due to her loquaciousness he'd been able to form a more accurate understanding of who she was now.

It had started out innocently enough, after he'd dismissed Jaken to precede them to the village, Rin had begun to excitedly gush about the preparations ongoing leading up to her nuptials to a well respected and moderately popular human in the village. She'd somehow managed to inform him, in excruciating detail of all the greater and lesser hallmarks that made this a good match for her. As if marrying a human male from a hick village could ever be considered a good match by his standards.

But he'd kept his own counsel as he had through every previous effort Rin had made to reconcile him to the good the match would do for her. She seemed unable to understand that he didn't care for the so-called merits of her future spouse beyond her promising to unite with the male in wedlock. He may have preferred she seek out a youkai mate or at least a noble human, but it wasn't his life she was deciding so it hardly mattered.

Until Rin let it drop that the male in question was only interested in marriage to her due to the man's belief that marrying her would guarantee the village Sesshoumaru's continued protection throughout Rin's life, the life of her offspring and possibly other benefits as well. He'd wanted to seek the human out and gut him for seeking to use his Rin that way.

His general stoicism had allowed Rin to continue to reveal that she was not only aware of it, but counting on Sesshoumaru's support and alliance through the rest of her life. Suddenly his rage had become betrayal. His ward, his little Rin had planned to use him. The little girl who had risked her health and well-being to provide him food he didn't eat, had sought to use him.

More than that, she still didn't see that it was wrong and he'd been forced to listen to the rest of her conversation while the bottom dropped out of his world. Sesshoumaru probably wouldn't have minded Rin's machinations if she'd asked him first. He was her guardian, he would've done nearly anything she'd asked of him, but she'd chosen to move ahead on her own without even consulting with him about how best to go about it.

His silent upset only increased as he learned Rin's true opinion of the miko he'd intended to be her co-mentor.

He'd been aware of the general opinion of humans who consorted with youkai in a sort of peripheral way as he'd never been the human to suffer for it. Sesshoumaru had learned in the last few months, the opinion the miko's own allies had developed for her since the death of Naraku and the animosity Inuyasha's overtly vocal nature had engendered towards her from the rest of the villagers. But he had never imagined his Rin would suffer from exposure to his half brother's presence to the degree she apparently had.

Maybe he'd believed the old miko would shield Rin from contamination and the lessons he'd insisted his ward receive under Kagome's tutelage should have kept the developing woman grounded in the reality of the little miko's value and the truth of the situation. Apparently he'd been wrong.

Rin believed her ties to his protection and the fact the village had watched her growing up was the only reason she would ever make a match with anyone, let alone a male so highly respected. His little girl was ashamed to be associated with Jaken as she would be with him, if Sesshoumaru wasn't so powerful that she could trade on his protective strength as she already had.

As a woman of her time, Rin measured her worth by her marriageability and it was the same measuring stick she used to assess Kagome's worth as well. Where Rin had the protection of a powerful youkai like Sesshoumaru and had been left in the village full time since before she was nubile, Kagome had wandered the countryside with two males, one a hanyou, and there was no one to back her up or defend her character besides a young kit spending all his time away at school, learning his craft.

When he heard how Rin had taken to telling the miko of her perceived worthlessness – a behavior he could only attribute to his wards personal dissatisfaction with her own worth on the same scale – Sesshoumaru had wanted to abandon the young woman there on the path and never look back. Instead he'd seen Rin the rest of the way to her door and informed her in even tones that she would not be seeing him again. In the space of their casual walk she had managed to negate all tender feelings he'd had for the little girl that had trailed after him, naively trusting him to protect her in her innocence.

In recent years he'd had little time to visit often, and when he did visit all he did was speak with the aging miko that housed Rin about her learning progress. He hadn't even spent enough time in the village to notice the younger miko no longer lived there, his younger half brother had mated the slayer and dealt with his grief with misdirected anger.

Perhaps that was why he failed to see how Rin had changed so much. And how much the miko's situation had deteriorated to the point where she would allow a woman so many years her junior to get away with judging her so harshly.

The minute he'd been free of his obligation to Rin, his eyes had taken in the growing shadows and encroaching darkness and all he could think of was finding the miko and releasing his frustration, stress, and betrayal on her soft, vulnerable flesh.

The decision hadn't exactly been consciously made. He'd just wanted to be free of himself and his thoughts for awhile. Sesshoumaru had needed it.

Now here he was, one arm heavier, back with the miko and faced with a dilemma. The night was over and all he wanted was to pound into her as punishment for breaking her word despite the fact that it was as much his fault as hers. His amber eyes looked beyond the wincing, bowed back to the garden she'd worked so hard to cultivate and the shredded clothing partially buried in places and uniformly brown. There would be no salvaging the material and it occurred to him that Kagome might not have too many spare sets of clothing. Her hut wasn't exactly in stellar shape and her footwear showed excessive signs of wear, an indication that she was incapable of procuring replacements in any condition. He should have realized that likelihood. She had no form of income beyond her healing and most healing was done in trade of the edible sort.

When he came again he would have to bring replacements for any clothing he'd already damaged and would damage.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened imperceptibly as he realized he was already planning a repeat of this night at some indeterminate point in the future.

A moment later his gaze hardened as he returned to the miko's quivering, weary form and made a decision. If he was coming back anyway, he would have the opportunity to punish her in the method he was currently craving, and he could do it whenever he felt like so long as darkness surrounded the hut.

With an enigmatic smirk he turned to leave the miko's presence and retrieve his armor, he had some errands to run. "Hn," the syllable floated in the damp morning air behind him as he left. Punishing the miko would take some serious thought if he planned to enjoy it to the fullest.


	3. Ch3 Disciplinary Action

Please keep in mind that Sesshoumaru has always gone about living his life in his own fashion. After all, how many other inuyoukai could there be in the world that take on an orphaned human girl as a ward, employ the excessively subservient Jaken as a retainer but won't given his half-brother the time of day? Truly, if any of the above didn't quite fit I would have to say it's the last with the truths of the first two. Rin is useless to Sesshoumaru and often gets into trouble. Jaken's uses are limited and is, in general, more trouble than he's worth. Inuyasha is just a blustering child so far as Sesshoumaru is concerned. How can he have the patience for Rin and Jaken for so long and hold absolutely none for Inuyasha?

Kagome has always been stubborn enough to insist on living her life her way also, despite the far more confining bounds of a female in an ancient world. Women around the world were property five hundred years ago. Rare was the culture in which the custom was different. There are a few, but most Asian cultures weren't among them. Being a miko kept her from being cloistered and owned, but it also limited her in other ways. Inuyasha's mouth limited her further. But his opinion was not the only one voiced against her. Not that his wasn't enough all on its own.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Disciplinary Action**

Reddened eyes studied the rickety hut that currently housed his prey calculating precisely what he needed to do to draw out his female on this night.

Everything needed to happen just so to achieve his desired purpose for the dark hours left ahead of him. He had already wasted a small portion of the night and his time was so limited already.

With the onset of summer, the night hours shortened and he really couldn't stand to waste too much more time if he wanted to get his fill and squeeze in every moment of tortured pleasure and pain he had planned. This night had a very distinct purpose and had already been delayed longer than he'd prefer.

A sinister smirk lit his face before he snapped his youki out at the dark building before drawing it quickly back hoping to draw the little miko to her door. He doubted too many youkai ran around her forest throwing and withdrawing youki randomly so it would certainly grab her attention. Being miko insured that she was sensitive enough to take note of such things and that she wouldn't have missed his action even in her sleep. She was brave enough to want to investigate such a strange occurrence in her wood. Her very nature driving her to inspect and assess all strange occurrences around her living quarters if not for her personal benefit then for the creatures that sought her out for aid and even for the village that so mistreated her after her many deeds and sacrifices for them.

Regardless of their mistreatment of her, the miko would protect them and, in her efforts to do so, would personally investigate any possible threat to them.

He was not disappointed. Moments later the miko appeared in her door wearing her shortened juban under an informally tied haori with the intent of assuring herself all was well.

She did not get the chance to do so.

The moment her foot went to step off the flat stone placed across her doorway he pounced upon her pushing her to the unforgiving ground, laying her out sprawled halfway in and out of her own home, her limbs splayed about her in disarray. With quick, fierce movements he latched onto her hips and dragged her out of the hut until her scrambling hands managed to grab onto the inside of the door frame and stop further progress. He could easily over power her strength and yank her all the way down to the artificial onsen if he so chose, but he didn't. He desired to instill in her the false idea that he would not violate her past the threshold of her own home.

Such an incorrect view of security, would later be proven wrong of course, but for now his design was to create the belief that she was secure inside her hut so he could later strip her of it.

He imagined all would-be rapists enjoyed destroying their victims sense of security. The others simply didn't have to manufacture it first. Besides, all the areas of her anatomy he planned to play with were already outside the edge of her hut's bounds. He could violate her sufficiently well without moving her any further.

And violate her, he did with one quick powerful thrust that tore something moist and squishy inside of her. The following quick jerky thrusts to her exposed mons failed to allow her time to prepare for his first intrusion or adjust to it after the fact. He doubted she'd even realized the extent of damage she'd suffered in that first thrust. Dragging her forward had caught up her juban and hoari underneath her on the roughness of the ground so he had no need to move it himself. In fact, each forceful thrust scraped her exposed lower back over the very same stone she used to cut down on the dust that crept into her home. It wouldn't take long before she would be scraped sufficiently raw enough to bleed on her own doorstep.

A deliberate shove against her diaphragm with the heal of his hand winded her before she could give voice to her pain at his sudden invasion, leaving her gasping desperately for breath. His newly gifted hand rose up to shove the loosened haori and under kimono to the side, exposing the same breast he had abused in a previous visit to the night air and his perusal. Sharp reddened eyes studied the remains of his claw marks critically, noting the stage of healing and how much better they would look now had he not been cut short in his last endeavors.

Due to the miko's own actions last time, he had not been able to tend to the wounds he delivered to her flesh, a duty he much enjoyed. And while she had paid the price by having to heal them without his help, he still intended to punish her for that in addition to breaking her word. The woman would be more than just a little sore after this night. She would be raw and bleeding in more places than one.

His tongue snaked out to bathe the marks left on her skin before his fangs dragged across the tender swell of her flesh, leaving red irritated skin in his wake. Always, before he had consciously toned down the corrosive nature of all the fluids he exposed the miko to. Tonight, he fully intended for her to know just how considerate he had been by ramping up the potency of all of them, still not to his highest levels, and perhaps not even up to half, but enough so that she would notice the difference in the aftermath.

He glanced up to check on the miko's attention and found her eyes closed and her features lined with the constant painful pleasure of his abuses. This did not please him.

Sharply, he returned his newly reformed claws to her hip and pierced the flesh, pausing all other actions to emphasize that she had displeased him.

The females eyes opened slowly, one at a time, at the curious suspension of his abuses to her flesh.

"You will watch, miko," the youkai demanded gruffly. "Or you will be missing pieces come dawn."

The woman's eyes widened in alarm as his fangs sank deeply into the tender skin pebbled with gooseflesh below her distended nipple. His intent was clear, should she displease him again, his fangs would delve deeper and deeper until his teeth closed together and he took a chunk out of her. So despite the tears of pain beginning to gather at the corner of her eyes from keeping her eyes open, she kept her gaze fixed on his piercing red eyes. Despite the thunderous pounding of his hips bruising into hers, she held his gaze through every wince and jarring bolt of pain that slid through her.

She didn't dare to even blink until, despite the discomfort rippling through her body, he forced a climax from her and she lost all her senses to the raging pleasure bouncing unvoiced through her as he winded her yet again to rob her of breath and the ability to scream. She was brought back to reality sharply, long before her sense normally would have found her by the sharp pinch of his teeth driving farther into her breast and reenforcing her fear that he really would take a chunk out of her.

Somehow she managed to whimper breathily as the hand not occupied with driving the air from her lungs roughly rubbed over that sensitive pearl he so enjoyed manipulating. His violence this night saw to it her forays into bliss were fewer and far shorter than she remembered them ever being but when it was achieved, it seemed far richer in texture and reality.

Tonight wasn't just about forcing her pleasure, driving her to enjoy his forced attentions. Tonight was about pain and while he still intended for her to enjoy the abuses he heaped on her tonight, he had no intention that her predominate sensations to come out of this night would be the pleasures of it. Tonight was a lesson, a demonstration of his control over her and the danger she'd courted by breaking her word. Tonight was about payment and restitution paid to the master denied his pleasures.

She would know that, even if he had to vocally explain it to her when his hours of touch were ended.

That was for later, now was about actions.

He drove her to release as he filled her womb with the most caustic fluid he'd yet allowed to burn over her, through her, and deep within her. She would be feeling this lesson for weeks without relief as was his intent. She'd probably be walking funny without any further action this night, if she could bring herself to walk at all.

Keeping to his word and her original stipulations, she would be able to walk from this, painfully, and she would be able to heal it while still taking care of herself, but she would suffer more damage than she had yet from any of their previous...trysts for lack of a better word.

They were not lovers after all.

With a brief pause to switch from one orifice to the other he usually used, he thrust his cock deep and hard, shoving the breath out of her in the same moment. His other claws continued to abuse her swollen clit mercilessly, forcing her to yet another breathless and short-lived orgasm terminated by the deepening penetration of his teeth in her breast. He maintained the depth and force of his penetrations in her rear until he allowed himself another orgasm, filling her further with the burn of his prolonged displeasure.

Another brief pause found him switching back to the first of her weeping sheathes to continue on with his punishment.

With renewed force the youkai began to thrust harder into the miko causing her to bruise more deeply than ever previously done in their joint meeting of pelvis to pelvis. The miko may well be bruised all the way to the bone he was carefully attempting not to fracture. He doubted she would be anything but tender in that area for the next several weeks if not longer. Which would hardly be a new thing for her after all their previous encounters, the pain would just last longer this time.

Her whimpers and tears were his indicators of success, even as he remained vigilantly determined to detect the next closing of her eyes. She admirably withstood the continuing damage, even as he knocked the breath from her body with deliberate and probably bruising administrations to her diaphragm. She was never given the chance to utter her pain or pleasure as he dragged both from her body. She would feel well used when this night ended as he intended. Of course he didn't intend this night's damages to end there.

As dawn slowly drew near, the youkai withdrew his fangs from where he'd kept them lodged throughout the night. He swiped his tongue over the punctures where blood welled up fresh, reveling in the slight tingle that was her power on his tongue. All of her flavors invariably pleased him. Perhaps one day he would let her know how much after he had been able to sample them all, but not right now.

Pointedly, he raised himself up and away from her upper body, pausing his thrusts to insure that her attention was drawn from the approaching climax he'd been working her up to back to the changing position of his claws. For once he allowed his eyes to deviate from their hold on her gaze to settle on this last task of the night. Gently, the first gentle move of the night, he pushed her bent leg wider to better display her up turned thigh. Slowly he drew his claws down from her knee to her inner thigh, raising minor welts along the slightly chilled flesh. Her skin was so tender and easily damaged, it belied her sturdiness and survivalistic strength. She was so strong and so very fragile at the same time. Her very fragility and his power over her well-being was such a great turn on, so much it nearly distracted him from his purpose.

This was to be her true punishment, a long-lasting reminder of just how vulnerable and dependent she was to his whims. A Swift glance up to her face assured him that her attention was properly directed before he continued.

With deliberate design, the youkai settled his claws over the muscle resting high in her thigh close to where he still remained buried deep in her body. Almost lovingly he allowed the pads of his fingers to dance over the smooth, vulnerable flesh, drawing out the moment before acting. A quick move, a nearly convulsive jerking of his hand over her skin, he pushed the sharp points of his newly returned claws deep into the skin and muscle, absently driving the heal of his other hand up into her diaphragm to stall the scream of abject agony he was certain the little female would otherwise have delivered. Studiously watching every painful twitch of her leg in reaction, he allowed a touch of his poison to seep into the wounded muscle as he resumed his thrusting, quickly regaining that precarious precipice to orgasm he'd denied her before only to push her over the edge despite the burning of his toxins corroding the muscle under her skin and the fear he intended for her to feel over the possibility he would leave her with a permanent limp.

For the miko certainly would limp after this. She might have limped just due to the excessive bruising to her pelvic region and the general soreness of overuse similar to every sexual encounter they had shared before this. But this would guarantee she limped noticeably, and for an extended period of time. He was a firm believer that humans were slow learners, the longer a lesson lingered, the greater likelihood that she would actually learn it.

After she had found her release he forced her to another in which he found his own, flooding her one last time with caustic fluid her body could just barely contain, preventing it from burning right through her.

Despite her continued struggle to keep her eyes open as he'd directed, the miko finally succumbed to her exhaustion and he allowed her to slip into unconsciousness without repercussions as the predawn light filtered into the clearing. He'd actually been surprised she lasted so long. Usually she succumbed to unconsciousness twice over by this point of the night, and it wasn't as if she'd had the chance to build up her stamina in the time between their interludes.

Carefully he disengaged from the miko backing up to hover above the most abused sections of her anatomy to better attend each set of wounds. Licking the wounds did not particularly aid in healing beyond sterilizing each one and closing the surface wounds to prevent infection. It was still better than leaving her bleeding as some of the wounds wouldn't readily close on their own, lengthening the time she would require to heal them. At least, this was the case for most of her wounds.

In truth, sealing the wounds on her thigh would actually slow the healing process by locking his toxins under the skin with no chance of escape. If left alone, while the wounds would take a long time to seal up on their own, the holes would leave the toxins a place to leak out of her body. He didn't care. Sealing it may cause more damage than if he'd left them be. But he couldn't resist the taste of her blood tainted with his toxins and it was his pleasure to tend her wounds briefly before the sun stole her from his grasp. It was his punishment for breaking her word. The longer it took to heal, the more definite the lesson she would learn.

Besides it kept him closer to that scent of her that he only got to enjoy on his nights with her. The scent aroused him and soothed him at the same time, if such was even possible. He wasn't even aware of when she had released the barrier that kept her scent hidden from the world.

Just as the golden disk peeked over the ridge of mountains at his back, he removed himself from the miko and stood to correct his clothing as he watched over the miko in her immediate recovery. Like the first time, the miko forced herself awake two hours after dawn. It seemed to be a preset wake up time she enforced internally regardless of her physical health. It was a curiosity he was tempted to test in future but had no time for it now.

The miko woke with a pained groan, her voice rough and uneven despite being unable to use it throughout the night. Unlike the first time, she did not roll to her side, being trapped in the doorway as she was. Instead she simply raised her shaking arms up to wipe her tear-stained face wincing as her strained shoulder muscles cried out in the pain of over use while the rest of her managed to remain generally numb as she refused to move anything else. She knew the moment she moved it would hurt everywhere. Still, she didn't regret the night.

When she opened her eyes, she didn't even sit up at first. Kagome just laid there, sprawled and exposed staring at the edge of her ceiling as if searching for an answer to some question she'd never asked. Even still, she wouldn't change a thing. She hadn't expected the night to happen and Sesshoumaru was well within the bounds of what she'd offered, hell, begged him for and regardless of the damage she would treasure it.

If he'd had the luxury of time, he might have let her lay that way as long as she desired, but Sesshoumaru was required back in his territory for duties that clamored for his attention. The youkai stepped forward into her view and pointedly offered her his hand to aid in bringing her to her feet. He was testing her, attempting to make certain that he had not damaged the miko more than he'd intended.

Almost reluctantly Kagome sighed and reached up to grasp Sesshoumaru's clawed hand, the very same hand that had managed to mangle her thigh in a way that wouldn't show on the surface. It took her a couple tries, but she did ultimately manage to achieve a standing position leaning against the door frame while absently straightening her garments to block her chest and lower body from his immediate view. Her long, legs remained exposed to him, the blood he watched trickle down between them drew his attention to how much bonier they were than he remembered them being in her youth, speaking directly of her general health that he had thus far failed to notice.

Sesshoumaru was coming to realize that not only were the miko's living conditions less than she deserved, but her health had been affected by it over time. As she was, he remained impressed that she had managed to survive this long. It was partly the reason he was certain that even if he slipped up and took her when she was fertile that chances of her conceiving were nearly none existent. Even if she did conceive her health would probably drive her to miscarry long before it became a real problem.

Not that it mattered, he wasn't here to risk breeding. He was here to find release, release of frustration and stress. So far, despite her error, which ultimately benefited him, the miko had proven perfect in that singular capacity.

And provided she learned the lesson he'd delivered this night, she would be long able to carry out this service for him and he could continue to provide the physical intimacy she craved as well.

Sesshoumaru had little doubt the miko would learn her lesson, but for added insurance, before he stepped back and released her hand he allowed the words to slip from him in a gruff voice into her bluntly rounded ear, "Remember miko, you only continue to walk on your own two feet because this Sesshoumaru has kept _his_ word."

To be perfectly honest, he had great respect for the miko's intelligence and learning capability, even if she was human. Considering how long it took most youkai to learn the finer points of diplomacy, her ability to mediate and negotiate with him back during the hunt for Naraku had impressed upon him the reality of her skill in such an area at such an exceptionally young age. Exceptional for any human, as they were generally abysmal when it came to negotiating with youkai, or even other human factions.

There was a reason they were constantly at war.

Kagome's eyes widened at his message before she realized that tonight had been meant as her punishment for using her reiki on him last time and breaking her word. A small, rueful smile flashed across her face as she sighed her acceptance of the new status quo. Stiffly she bowed respectfully to him, "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama," she murmured politely. She'd been somewhat afraid that he wouldn't be back after the last time.

It had upset her more than could be good for her, but Kagome had learned to accept her own foibles long ago. There was little else she could do but accept her foolishness and move on anyway. A relationship, the kind she craved, was an impossibility for her, especially with the youkai that stood before her. It always had been, and she had accepted that too. Want more as she might, she wouldn't ask for it and she certainly would never expect it either.

Her response surprised him, but he had little time to delve into the reasons for his surprise or her responses to him. There was one last thing for him to do before he was forced to return to his responsibilities. He fished the bundled pack secreted in his sleeve before presenting it to the miko mutely.

Kagome blinked up at him in confusion before accepting the package from his clawed hand and watched as he turned and walked away from her without further intercourse between them.

Alone, standing in the door of her dilapidated hut, Kagome untied the string securing the package closed. What spilled over her hands from the nondescript wrapping left her stunned. Draped over her hands were several articles of clothing, miko garb of sturdy quality and serviceable material. Two pairs of red hakama and two snow white haori in better shape than even the ones she had been privileged to wear in her home shrine. Driving home how shabby the one she was currently wearing truly was.

But under all that her roughened hands discovered the expensive smoothness of delicate silk. When she returned inside the confines of her home, stumbling and limping to her futon, she separated everything until she found it. Mixed in with the sensible clothing she imagined were meant as replacements for the clothing already sacrificed to her requested rapist's haste and ardor, was the most extravagant silk garments she'd ever seen in this era. The frost white haori was decorated with delicate red flowers near the hem of each sleeve and the delicate hakama sported the opposite colored design dancing across one leg. She couldn't imagine what he thought she could use it for, but she reverently folded the silk carefully before storing it in the single chest she had for such things as extra clothes and the last of her fragile trinkets from the future. She gently shifted everything in it until she could wrap it in the left over remains of her school uniform in the bottom of the box before addressing the other new sets of miko garb.

She didn't wonder what he meant by the gesture, for it was unlikely he actually meant anything beyond simply replacing what he'd damaged since obviously she couldn't. By the same token, she never wondered why he'd decided to grant her original request. Kagome hadn't really thought he would after he'd left without giving her a definitive answer that day so many months ago. And she never wondered why Sesshoumaru would repeat it once he'd already fulfilled all she'd asked for. She simply accepted it and went on with her day, treasuring each event as a lucky windfall that may or may not ever befall her again.

Kagome had learned long ago there was no point in questioning the few good things that happened to her, even the ones stained by pain as these ones would always have to be. She had only the moment it happened to enjoy it and questioning it kept her from enjoying it while it existed until she was only left with the regret of missing the opportunity.


	4. Ch4 A Fuedal Trap

Marriage, at the very base and heart of its origins, is a business arrangement. It was instituted by societies the world over to insure specific genetic lines continued to the next generation and was negotiated with proofs of being able to provide for the offspring it was being created for. Romance came later. Chivalry came later. Religious application...came later. While the romance makes the lifelong commitment more tolerable, and chivalry in a mate makes it a bit easier, religion just seems to complicate things. If Marriage is looked at in this light, there should be very little reason to deny a union between any two people minded to make it. I think objections to any such wedding of individuals comes from too many people trying to push their personal opinions and beliefs onto other people they neither know personally or genuinely care about. Its about power and influence, politics in its worst most useless form. Why fight this battle when there are more universally important ones to be fought? Education. Homelessness. Starvation. Unemployment. Healthcare. These are issues that concern a person's ability to a healthy productive life. Focus on those.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**A Feudal Trap**

Sesshoumaru stared down into the village from his obscured vantage point, observing the rituals and ceremonies Rin had been so excited for.

As he had promised that day he attacked the miko for the second time, he never returned to visit the girl child where she could see him. But he had already set aside this day to attend her marriage and he found himself left with nothing else to do while daylight still flooded the landscape. (Unfortunate that. Had the hours left open to him been flooded with darkness, he could have spent the time flooding the miko with all the seed she could contain. Perhaps he might even find new ways to exploit her for his pleasure.)

As much as he'd wished to return to his general apathy where Rin was concerned he had not quite been successful. So here he stood, secluded in the forest, watching his little girl tie herself to a human male. He couldn't decide what he felt about it at the moment but whatever emotions stewed inside him, he would only admit to a mild curiosity over the rituals involved in a human mating.

Youkai required very little in general, and cardinal lords only slightly more. There were no lavish ceremonies in front of witnesses for most and the general announcements and celebrations were left for the conception and birthing of young over the initial consummation of a mating. A mating meant very little if it failed to be productive. The purpose was continuity of the species more than anything else.

This was actually the first he'd seen the groom and what Sesshoumaru saw did not impress him. The male who stood next to his ward lacked real distinction. He was just like every other member of the village dressed in the very best of his garments which still fell short of what Sesshoumaru would have deemed adequate for a formal occasion. Hell, Inuyasha was dressed in better clothing, and it was the same filthy fire rat clothing he always wore.

A sudden rustling in the brush behind him drew Sesshoumaru's attention briefly from the ceremonies about to commence in the village below just in time to catch the miko's surprise at finding him there. She had obviously not expected to find anyone in this spot, especially not him. He surmised the miko would have expected him to attend the event down in the village.

"You should be down there miko, should you not?" Sesshoumaru demanded as he turned back to the view. He was unsure if he should feel insulted that his nominal ward's wedding day was not being attended by one of her teachers or elated that she was up here subject to his whims instead. The relations between the two females may have deteriorated, but her respect for his position still should have driven Kagome to attend. Here he'd thought the miko had finally learned to respect him.

"I wasn't invited," the miko answered as she drew up beside him. "Neither the bride nor the groom desired me to attend their nuptials lest I taint them and the ceremonies with my presence."

She was familiar with the groom? How had the miko come to be so blacklisted by Rin's soon-to-be Husband when she rarely went into the village? As Sesshoumaru understood it, even personages that struck fear and anxiety in the heart of simple peasants were invited to such events as a safeguard against insulting their unpleasant neighbors.

Kagome wasn't a dark miko, but she was considered stained by her unorthodox belief in the decency of youkai in general. As such, the village may not fear insulting her, but they should still invite her out of fear of insulting her allies, a considerable number of formidable youkai across the country. How could the ignorant male out to wed his Rin come to the necessary feelings of animosity required to overcome such ingrained caution.

Sesshoumaru's curiosity must have shown on his face in some way as he didn't even need to demand an explanation from the miko to receive it.

"Shin came to me three years ago, just after Kaede suffered a mild stroke," Kagome's eyes were so fixed on the proceeding ceremonies she failed to note the brief flash of surprise that crossed his expression. He'd been unaware of the elderly miko's compromised health. "She seemed fairly normal beyond losing accurate control over half her body but there were certain things that gave her away if you watched closely. I began taking on more of her duties for the good of the village, when they allowed it," she added with a weary sigh. The village would obviously refuse to accept her help too often, Kagome certainly wasn't acknowledged to be a worthy miko these days. "Perhaps if I hadn't it wouldn't have occurred to him to corner me in the forest on my way home one day." The last was little more than speculation having very little to do with the explanation he was impatient for her to get on with. Though it did give him an inkling as to where her explanation was going.

"He informed me that my power was a kami given gift meant to be used to protect the village," the miko's eyes flashed at the implication that she had ever used it for anything else. "And while I had failed to pursue my duties as the kami intended, the power still remained and could and should be passed on to the next generation as further protection from the youkai scum that roamed the greater world and threatened their security." Clearly the miko disagreed as her behavior would suggest. The miko Kagome was the only creature he knew of who was capable of looking past the species to inspect the actual character of anyone she came across. Naturally, such unique insight would have varying acceptance by those without it. "AS I had been born with this power and not my taint, there was no reason to believe I couldn't birth children with the same gift, but completely free of my willful denial of my proper duties." The last was said with obvious scorn. Even now, Kagome refused to be told what was right, good and evil were things she was very capable of discerning herself.

"You do not believe your children will be different from you?" Sesshoumaru asked blandly, slightly amazed to enjoy the sound of her voice beyond the simple desire to obtain a full disclosure of her past dealings with the male that would marry his Rin. Perhaps he should see to it he got to hear her screaming in passion one of these nights. If he enjoyed the regular timber of her speaking voice, it might not be such a torturous experience to hear that same voice roughened by forced passion.

"If I thought his small brain could take it, I might have pointed out that the Kami created me with my so-called willful disposition and insured that I would have at least some of the numerous experiences that lead me to believe youkai were more than just villainous creatures out to kill everyone and everything. Who's to say the kami wouldn't see to it my spawn turned out the same way?" Kagome answered him with mild amusement. Sesshoumaru could concede that a child exposed to Kagome would be more likely to develop her unique viewpoint. "But his head might have exploded attempting to either block out the truth or assimilate the mere possibility that I was in the right. Whatever else anyone says about Shin, he is a fairly prominent member of the village. Someone would notice if his head disappeared. The villagers would have hunted me down for that." Her chuckle was low and rusty from disuse.

"You did not accept his proposal?" Sesshoumaru began for her.

"At first I just ignored him," Kagome continued. She'd had lots of practice doing so with Kouga, once upon a long time ago. "What he offered wasn't anywhere close to anything I could live with. He didn't want to wed me to stay with me or raise children together. Shin was very clear about that. The only reason he proposed marriage was to insure his children sired on me weren't tainted by the reality of being bastards. He would not live with me and I would not live in his house. He would not spend more time with me than would be necessary for me to receive his seed and conceive those powerful children he wanted to serve the village. Once that was done, Shin planned to leave me on my own until I birthed his offspring, most likely alone in delivery too."

The miko's monologue was delivered in a bland, dry detached voice as if the memory actually applied to someone else. "My children, once born would be removed from my care the moment a wet nurse became available for them. Then the cycle would repeat without break."

Sesshoumaru blinked at her, appalled that a female so very suited to motherhood would be denied that one pleasure in such a horribly callous way. It was one thing to deny her motherhood by simply not allowing her to conceive, but another entirely to force her to carry and birth a child before denying her the joy of loving and nurturing the resulting infant.

A faint hint of salt tainted the air briefly as the miko again suffered the cruelty offered by the mere suggestion this Shin had presented her with. "I would then never have contact with anything I bore to protect them from my taint." Sesshoumaru caught the tense smile that flashed over her mouth from the corner of his golden eye. "Needless to say, when pressed I firmly refused the honor." The miko sighed and shifted to lean her hip against the trunk of the tree beside her, keeping her eyes trained on the continuing ceremonies down in the village. "I might have been able to marry a passing tradesman in the mood to do so, had Shin not been who he was."

"Explain," Sesshoumaru demanded. The miko's information was slowly opening up the character of the male Rin was at this moment tying herself to and it was not a comforting portrayal. He didn't care enough to run down there and halt the proceedings, but he was growing more than a little concerned. If such a creature was capable of this much cruelty to the gentle unassuming Kagome, Rin was in for more than a turbulent marriage, lots of children, and an unhappy life.

"Shin took my refusal rather badly, and instead of pondering why his offer was so repugnant to me, he decided I had refused to wed because I wanted my children to suffer the stigma of being bastards, still fathered by him," Kagome shook her head, the fool. Like she'd only refuse the marriage but agree to sex with such a bastard. She may only be having intimate relations with Sesshoumaru, but marriage had never been in the cards. She just wasn't that kind of girl. "In a fit of self-righteousness, He denied me the possibility of ever carrying his seed without marriage. When I refused to capitulate, he ran to the village with tails of my supposed insanity. Some believed it, some did not, but no traveler passing through had time to test such information out personally."

"He did not desire you to attend the ceremonies?" Sesshoumaru was surprised. Someone as carelessly cruel should want to rub it in that the miko had lost her chance.

"No, if I proved capable of behaving myself through all of the ceremonies it would be terribly difficult to upkeep the tale of my derangement," Kagome explained. "He always was a little on the calculatingly cruel side of things. As a boy he was always certain to tie the dogs up just a little too tight with their dishes just a little too far out of reach."

"And he is admired for this?" Sesshoumaru was incredulous that his Rin would seek a connection with such a person.

"Not exactly," Kagome shook her head. "He probably wouldn't have come after me if all the other village girls hadn't already made it clear they wouldn't have him. And Shin only started in on Rin after he got over my flat refusal."

"Not that my marrying him would have necessarily kept him from going after her eventually," the miko added. "It's unlikely I would have survived even one birthing on my own let alone a second one right afterward, based on his planned schedule. In all probability, I'd have been dead a mere two years after the wedding which would have left plenty of time to arrange to marry Rin. Especially if he began his courting during the time he'd spend away from me."

"My only hope is that he won't beat her," the miko sighed sadly. "There's no chance he won't neglect her dreadfully. I hadn't wanted to see her walk into that trap so willingly, but she wouldn't listen to me."

"Do you see mating as a trap?" Sesshoumaru asked blandly. He was unsure as to why he wanted to know. It was just strange to find a female who could see beyond the moment of matrimony to the life beyond it well enough to turn it down.

"It is if entered into for the wrong reasons, especially for the woman," Kagome declared firmly. "A mating formed out of fear of being alone or to pursue vengeance or out of pity, all lose their warmth and shine rather quickly, if it was ever there to begin with." The miko allowed a brief, rueful smile to settle over her lips, "After Shippou heard about what Shin had done, he offered to mate me himself when he was old enough." She shook her head mildly, missing the inu youkai's startled expression. "I refused his offer also. Where I come from pursuing relationships with children is so far looked down upon I could never even consider one with a kit that was so close to being my only son. He was a bit down about it for a while, but he understood eventually."

Sesshoumaru mentally agreed with her assessment. It was the same reason he could never have considered the type of relationship with Rin that he carried on with the miko. Rin was a child to him, eternally young and always to be protected. Carnality had never held a place in their relationship and never would. Her humanity added no extra hindrance to this singular truth.

Sesshoumaru smirked to himself, obviously not if he was willing to fulfill the miko's request and go so far as to enjoy it. Still, in the course of her exposition the miko had informed him that she'd had other options and chosen him and all that entailed anyway. True those options came with high costs and were certainly less than palatable options, but asking to be raped by a youkai was hardly a more tempting choice. It was a compliment, though unintentional. The miko hadn't informed him of it to stroke his ego.

Her purpose had been to expound on the evils of Rin's chosen mate, perhaps in effort to incite him to prevent it. Although, it was more likely the little miko's intent had merely been to voice her worries aloud to another who could understand them. By Kagome's view, the future looked bleak for Rin and thus her own looked blacker still. An unhappy Rin would mean an increase in the girl's need to demean the elder woman. Misery, as they say, spawned more misery.

Whatever her purpose, Sesshoumaru understood that the miko had not desired to watch the event itself, and with no invitation she had no duty to do so.

A red head lifted to glance pointedly at their specific location. From his peripheral vision, Sesshoumaru caught the movement of Kagome's hand as she waved encouragingly at her kit down in the village. This explained her appearance here to watch the ceremonies. Kagome was here to support Shippou, half grown and obviously displeased at being required to attend. Apparently, Rin had burned her bridges with more than just her guardian and the miko she used to adore.

Dusk was approaching steadily, the shadows lengthening with the coming twilight as the wedding rites were slowly coming to completion. Rin was soon to be officially someone else's responsibility and Sesshoumaru wished her to find, if not joy, contentment in her choice. Though, the picture the miko painted him cast little hope of even that, but he was finding difficulty caring about it after experiencing his ward's distinct lack of honor in her dealings with everyone not human, powerful, and popular. Whereas the miko she had so wronged worried for her in blatant contrast to the verbal abuses Kagome had received from Rin.

Thoughts of the miko swiftly drove away his discontent with the way his relationship with Rin had concluded. The encroaching darkness filled his brain with other, more engaging things to consider.

Sesshoumaru, in his original plans, had not intended to come in contact with Kagome this trip. He'd rather expected her to be held up with the events as an attendee rather than an unwanted crasher, barred from attending at all. And he was expected back in his domain to re-assume his duties at dawn tomorrow. As such he had not left enough time for a full episode of their joint lust. This time it wouldn't be the miko to cut short his fun.

But there was no way Sesshoumaru wouldn't indulge in the fine flesh of the miko while it was available to him. "Miko, remove your hakama," he ordered blandly. With his time so very limited, he had no desire to waste even a moment of the darkness removing obstacles in his way.

"Wha-" Kagome blinked at him in surprise, failing to move to comply with the words she was certain she'd heard wrong. It was such a sudden change in subject, she was quite stunned.

"Remove them, or walk back to your hut carrying the left over shreds," Sesshoumaru warned her in the same blasé tone, not even bothering to remove his gaze from the slowly concluding rites conducted in the village.

Kagome, as surprised as she was by his sudden allusion to their strange arrangement, was no fool. He really would leave her to limp back to her hut, half naked through the forest, at risk every moment of being found by something desirous of sticking it to a female so conveniently exposed. With careful movements, she stepped out of the village's view and set about untying the various himo holding the red pants up about her waist.

Sifting quickly through the stock pile of fantasies he had been perfecting in the months since their first intimate encounter, he searched for one that would work in the allotted time he had before being forced to leave her. "Secure your hands about one of the trees, facing it." Normally he would do the securing, but this fantasy was about making her do it. With Kagome tying herself up for him, she acknowledged his control and her enjoyment of it.

Sesshoumaru heard the continued rustling of her clothing as the miko worked to complete the tasks he'd set her while he studiously refused to watch her. He allowed himself one brief glance to ascertain which tree the miko had chosen and what was around it. He needed to force her to tire slightly as he had come to expect the miko to fall unconscious at the end of their activities before he left, if she didn't he would feel as if the night had not come to a proper conclusion. "Miko, there is a small plant at the base of your tree. Help it to grow until I tell you to stop."

Kagome closed her eyes and sent her reiki into her hands to skate down the tree's bark into the little clinging vine curled about the base. This was not something she usually did as it required a lot more concentration than she could normally risk, living alone in the forest as she did. She had never really been into bondage, but then she'd never really had rape fantasies before either. Kagome had only wanted to touch and be touched and a staged rape had been the only available option. When Sesshoumaru had granted her that one wish, Kagome had promised herself that he would get as much out of it as she did. If that meant allowing him to play out his fantasies on her flesh, well...she trusted him to see to it she enjoyed it too.

By the time night had truly fallen and the inu youkai called the miko to cease her efforts, she was covered in sweat and shaking from exertion. She was also perfuming the area with the intense scent of her anticipation. Her body had assumed a slightly strained, awkward pose to avoid the humongous growth of the plant at her feet, yelping when relaxing her curved spine drove her clothed front onto prickly thorns that pierced through the loose weave.

Sesshoumaru smirked in the darkening night.

He couldn't believe his luck, what had merely been meant as a means to an end had turned out to add a spectacular extra prop for his fantasy. If she leaned forward or relaxed over much, she ran onto the thorns, forcing her to keep her back arched high, her hips and rump angled outward, exposing his targets with her feet planted widely. Her tied hands were now buried under the choking vines, reinforcing her restraints and insuring she was well and truly trussed up for his pleasure. And now to torture her.

With a lightning fast gesture that drove a sharp and startled gasp from his prey, Sesshoumaru drove two clawed fingers up into her exposed flower. "Do you desire it miko? Do you desire my cock fill the aching emptiness you feel alone in your hut?" he smirked as the moonlight glistened over her naturally lubricated skin, the stain of her dripping honey growing with every second. He ran his thumb over the slick pearl that was his new favorite toy. "When I am not there, do you remember the thrust of my cock driving deep inside you where no one else will ever go? Does it arouse you?" He watched her pant as her legs shook with reaction and he added a third clawed finger without warning. He wasn't really moving the digits buried deep under her skin, only his thumb dancing over her knot of nerves moved to inspire her further pleasure accompanied by the sound of his deep, rumbling voice. "Do you dream of the slick slide of your pleasure forced out of you? Do you crave its repeat? Do you dream of it? Do you touch yourself and envision the things I do to your body?" With a smirk she couldn't see he removed his fingers from her sheath just before she could achieve a climax, leaving only his thumb to offer insufficient relief to her need for touch. "How dirty you are. A miko allowing herself to take pleasure in her youkai rapist's acts, what would your people think of you?" His victim gave off a keening whine of desperation.

He stepped up behind her bowed rump, dropping his armor in a clanking heap beside him before shoving the white silk out of his way so that his straining flesh could rub against her warm honey. The miko strained to stretch her body enough to thrust back against him and whined again when she failed. "Is this what you want?" He asked as he allowed the very tip of him to slide inside her folds. He failed to advance any further, moving only to draw back when she managed to thrust back against him a small amount. "You haven't answered me miko. Is this what you want? My cock inside of your body, tainting your purity as only a youkai could?"

"Yes!" the female answered breathily, anything to get on with it. His teasing was driving her absolutely crazy.

He moved a slow, gentle inch further inside her clenching heat. "You want this youkai to fill you with his seed, to burn you inside with hot spend until you will never know warmth from any other source?" The female barely managed the breath to groan and he withdrew that precious inch he'd granted her at her failure to answer promptly. "Answer, miko."

"Yes! Yes! Please!" her answer was punctuated with the frustrated scent of salt in the air. Tears.

Nearly there, he smirked to himself. "What is it you want?"

A broken sob was the miko's response, clearly incapable of giving any other. If this fantasy were about being cruel, he might have withdrawn altogether to force the point. He had demanded an answer after all, and he was the one in control.

"You want this cock to conquer you?'

"Yes!"

"To overwhelm you? To stretch you out until you feel empty without it?"

"Yes!"

"To own you?" At this point, if she denied him, he could take pleasure in forcing her to realize the truth, and if she didn't he could reward her for acknowledging it.

The miko didn't care fully aware of the game. Much as she would desire otherwise, this wasn't a romantic relationship, therefore there was no point in fussing over her independence and self-sufficiency. They were not equals developing strong bonds to lead to a mating, learning how to deal with each other. They were victims of circumstance. She needed the tactile intimacy before she ran mad in her solitude, and he, whether he admitted it or not, needed the stress relief. So she didn't quibble about her answer. "Yes!"

And with her short answer, he thrust home, throwing her over the rim of ecstasy just like that. But he didn't pause to linger on the satisfaction of talking her so close to a climax without much effort. The miko had always been responsive in their dealings and enthusiastic in her pleasures. But she appeared to need a minor warning about their proximity to discovery. "Quiet miko, lest you expose our doings and bring it all to a premature end," his warning was delivered without a pause to interrupt the fine rhythm he'd adopted immediately following the first thrust. "You wouldn't want this cock taken from you forever, would you?"

Moments later the taint of iron ringed his head as he could only surmise the miko had bitten her own tongue to silence her ecstasy. After her third peak, he noticed the miko tightening around him oddly as if on purpose and snarled into her hair. Some part of him insisted she was trying to usurp control from him and he immediately punished her for it without much thought. The hand not occupied with holding her hip in place swept forward to tug her haori open on one side, exposing the loosed breast to the danger of the thorns.

He was momentarily surprised to learn the miko had used her breast binding to tie around the tree, but dismissed the thought when he realized the strip of cloth binding her hair would not have been long enough to wind around a tree of such girth. She would have been tied flat to the tree and he may as well just have held her in place rather than having her tied up.

The miko's back attempted to curve upward more to protect herself, consequently bringing her hips inward and away from his thrusting. He retaliated by pushing her back downward and snarling in her ear, forcing her bare flesh to dance amongst the thorns. A moment later he found his release as he pushed her over into a fourth one despite the tearing of her skin.

With a forceful tug, the youkai ripped the miko free of her bindings on the tree, keeping himself buried inside her secret cavern.

Shuddering in reaction, the miko wrapped her arms around her front, holding her haori closed to protect the torn flesh.

"Hn," he commented as her blood trickled over his arm where it held her to him about the waist.

With deliberate movement, he carried the miko back to her residence. Upon reaching the dilapidated hut, he finally allowed her to free herself of his body briefly before he pinned her up against the back outside wall. He firmly drew her arms from around her front and pulled open the cloth to expose the bleeding half of her chest before he set to work tending the scratches. It took some time as the thorns had drawn numerous shallow lines over the tender flesh in a random pattern that failed to disguise the healing scars of his previous abuses. These new wounds certainly wouldn't scar though.

Applying his tongue to her breast lead to another rough coupling as he thrust up into the pinned miko, the juices of their previous relations saving her from further damage as his move surprised her greatly. It was a quick affair that was soon over, allowing him to return to the task of tending the damages of the night.

The miko's belly was hardly marked and therefore drew little of his attention before he crouched down between the miko's thighs to investigate the healing she had achieved since his last administrations, namely the damage to her thigh. The surface looked healthy if slightly red with irritation, but then the worst of the damage had been under the skin.

Sesshoumaru leaned forward to sniff at her skin and barely kept from being overwhelmed by the enticement of her female scent mixed with his own seed. He would have to take a taste before he left tonight. Back on task, he brought up a careful claw to run the pad over the unseen muscle and noted the lack of firmness as though the muscle had shriveled slightly. It wasn't as bad as he'd thought it might be. Some youkai never healed the damage dealt by his claws, but this miko was doing well. He had apparently tempered his poisons just right.

His duty fulfilled, Sesshoumaru eagerly buried his nose in the fragrant mess that seeped out of the miko's womb. The heady aroma tempted his tongue, and the youkai's long sinewy tongue was lapping up the fluids before the thought to do so even formed in his mind.

When the miko was nearly clean of the viscous ambrosia, her rapture drew him up to flip her around and thrust up into the other orifice he so loved to enjoy. The exposed miko seemingly found less pleasure from it than he did until he locked his teeth over her shoulder, drew her slightly away from the wall and began to torture his favorite bundle of nerves. She had nearly achieved another orgasm when a sound drove him stock still and she tensed around him for a completely different reason.

"Kagome-mama," the miko's kit had apparently returned from the ceremonies to seek his rest and expected to see his miko mother inside and waiting for him. "Kagome?" the boy began to sound worried at her absence and Sesshoumaru clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from giving them away.

Stealthily he dragged her with him in the direction of the onsen. It would give her an excuse for her dishabille and her absence. With a displeased growl, he withdrew his cock from her body unhappy that his already brief time had been so interrupted.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked in confusion.

"Bathe miko," he ordered, refusing to look at her exposed body while it still belonged to him but he could no longer touch it. When he didn't hear the sound of her clothes being removed or her sigh as she slipped into the waters the youkai went to force her to do it only to freeze in surprise when his eyes landed on the miko sitting atop the same boulder he'd first taken her against. Her legs were splayed wide open and her fingers were at her core displaying that pearl he enjoyed abusing. Her clothing rode precariously low on her shoulder exposing his favored breast in the moonlight. A single breath later, his fangs had pierced the skin around her pebbled nipple, his cock was once more engaged in abusing her inner walls and his tense claws were carefully digging into the rock beside her hips. Each thrust against her drove deeper, as if he desired to break the boulder beneath her by driving his shaft through her into it.

He'd feared the near exposure of their activities would have put her off the continuation of it. That she had proven otherwise was not something he was going to question. She would limp back to her kit this night, even if it did happen well before dawn. When he drove her to orgasm, she bit his shoulder to quiet her passion and the action threw him over the edge into his own.

Fully sated, the miko flopped back awkwardly over the boulder and the youkai cleansed her of the mess from their coupling once again. This time it occurred to him to wonder what the miko tasted like without the interference of another flavor. Certainly she tasted divine mixed with his own essence as almost any female would. But the miko's body was unique in her ability to accentuate all the best flavor notes of anything it'd been exposed to. Her blood with his poison, her honey with his seed, hell mixing her scent with Naraku's miasma had made it almost palatable.

He'd actually missed his chance to catch her flavor completely without taint when he'd thrust home and taken her virginity that first night. She would always hold some notes of him, but it would fade quite a bit over time without reapplication. Sesshoumaru made up his mind that if he ever had to avoid her for an extended period of time, he would take his taste. More than that, he would transform into a smaller version of his true form and taste her that way, as the inu had more taste buds. He was certain the miko would enjoy it too as his tongue at that size was comparable in girth to the organ he normally poked her with. Maybe he'd even mount her that way.

Sesshoumaru smirked. It seemed the more he trysted with the miko, the more he let himself loose to enjoy it. Taking her as an inu would almost be worth not seeking her out for the time required for his flavor and scent to leave her. It would certainly be something he wouldn't be able to do with anyone else. Such thinking would have to wait, however. Duties that always seemed to interfere with the few things he desired to do for himself called for him to leave her in the embrace of the onsen's waters still shrouded in _his_ darkness. The last round of duties had required he put his intended punishment for the miko on hold far longer than he'd wanted to prior to the last time he'd sought out the miko. And now, those same duties called him away before he was ready to leave off his pleasure and before the miko had been rendered insensate under his ministrations.

Something had to be done about this. Especially now that his excuse of visiting Rin had ended. Jaken would return to his side and Sesshoumaru would be left with no valid recurring reason to seek out the village of Edo. This would not do.


	5. Ch5 One Sick Miko

One reviewer expressed a strong animosity to the entire population of Edo in this story. This is a bit overly inclusive. Kagome's life is hard because the local villagers avoid her, but only a hand full of individuals make it nearly impossible. Inuyasha abuses her routinely. Shin badmouths her to all who will listen. Rin criticizes her harshly and Sango...well Sango hasn't spoken to Kagome in years. The ignorant masses are like that. Those without personal experiences with a specific person or type of person will rely on the opinions of those who do. It is the way of the world.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**One Sick Miko**

Sesshoumaru kept his steps even, measured to insure his arrival at his destination would coincide with the advent of night. His goal was to arrive on the cusp of darkness, preventing any awkward moments while preserving his power over all the hours of the night. There would be no interruptions this time, and no duties to cut into his pleasures.

In fact, he had the next two nights to do with the miko as he pleased before anyone would note his absence from anything important. Sesshoumaru would have to find something to do with the daylight hours as they were off-limits by mutual agreement, but that was a minor inconvenience when compared with the last month of being unable to find time to pull away at all.

When the miko's hut came into the view of his superior eyesight, he noted the reed covering she'd placed over the doorway. Such a sight was odd this early in the year as the weather wasn't nearly cold enough to require it and the miko had no real worry over her privacy this far into the forest. Then again, the miko was odd, so Sesshoumaru dismissed it before sending his youki ahead of him and into the confines of her home.

He wasn't immediately rewarded with curling tendrils of Kagome's scent as he had expected. The miko had never failed to drop her scent barrier the instant she sensed his youki in an area so immediately he wondered if perhaps the miko had been called away. She was a healer so it was possible the village had tapped her skills and power to combat some illness or general malady that had struck. Come to think of it, he could scent the lingering traces of sickness streaming from the nearest human settlement as though recently past.

But then her scent slowly crept to him in a lazy crawl that spoke of Kagome's tardiness in dropping her barrier. For a moment he pondered whether to punish her tardiness. Then the door covering twitched to the side and the miko swayed into view.

Kagome didn't look so well. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, her skin flushed, and her normally tidy hair was mussed like she had been sleeping fitfully. The sigh she gave out when her eyes finally managed to ascertain what she was seeing sounded resigned, not anticipatory at all.

With a silent gesture, the miko invited her guest into the hut before she turned and stumbled further into her rickety building before collapsing on the floor, just missing the threadbare cloth he was forced to assume was meant to be her futon and her intended target. A whiny groan sounded through the enclosure before the miko managed to muster the necessary energy to maneuver her tired body into the thin bedding, a shiver punctuating her achievement when she finally managed to settle under the covers.

She fussed a bit, rolling and fidgeting until Kagome seemed to find a position that she decided was comfortable enough for her rest and all but fell asleep before Sesshoumaru had the chance to settle against the farthest wall from her.

He quirked a silent eyebrow at her condition, watching his plans evaporate for the evening and most likely the next as well. If the miko was so ill she couldn't remain conscious above a few moments, there was no way she was up for the type of acrobatics he'd been planning.

So now what was he going to do with the next few days? His reason for coming here was very ill. Despite that, he was reluctant to admit defeat and simply go back to work. Sesshoumaru had struggled to create a break in his duties that would not raise questions and he was unwilling to let it go to waste by returning to the place where new, unexpected, and rather unnecessary duties could find him. He needed this break regardless of what he did or did not get to do with it.

Besides, if he was lucky, the miko would recover from her illness well enough to fulfill the terms of their arrangement tomorrow. Really lucky.

He continued to ponder the possibility of the miko's recovery being that quick while his golden eyes watched her chest rise and fall in quick gasping breaths. The sound was a bit raspy, but the occasional cough was dry which was a good sign. It meant there was nothing seriously wrong with her lungs, no fluid collecting in them and such.

Regardless of whether she recovered within the course of this night or the next, she would most likely recover with little difficulty. Lung ailments were often times deadly in this day and age, probably because only humans could develop them. This was only a concern because her death would inconvenience him in the aftermath. He rather enjoyed having a living female body at his disposal when night fell, it would be very difficult to find an adequate replacement. And he certainly would never find a youkai female that would ask of him what the miko had.

Even now, months and episodes later, that initial request still floored him when he recalled that day. Fortunately, he seldom had cause to waste his time like that. And the miko's health willing, he wouldn't have to find a replacement any time soon either.

Sesshoumaru was so engrossed in his study of the miko's flushed, unconscious form that he nearly missed the arrival of another youkai to Kagome's hut. It wasn't exactly dangerous as the taiyoukai would never be so lax as to let a real threat get that close without being taken care of. But it was male. It was an adult, and it was headed straight for Kagome.

Without real thought, Sesshoumaru let out a menacing growl, warning the flea back from touching the miko whose body was his property until sunrise. Nobody touched what was his. Taiyoukai did not share with others.

Mid bound, Myouga struggled to correct his trajectory. Left unchecked he would have landed on the miko's heated cheek. Instantly, the scrap of cloth he used as a handkerchief materialized in his hand as he patted away the cold, nervous sweat from his face. "Se-Se-Sesshoumaru-sama," he groveled apprehensively. As a youkai of such diminutive size, Myouga had always survived by avoiding real threats to his person. It was a survival instinct others classified as cowardice.

The flea had always made a point of eschewing any contact with the elder inu brother on that very principle. How had he messed up so badly?

Golden eyes glared across the fire, reinforcing his original threat. Touch the miko and die!

What was the retainer of Inuyasha doing here anyway? "Explain your intent, flea," the lord demanded curtly, the last word stained with such disdain it almost had edges.

Mopping at his brow non-stop Myouga answered abruptly, "I am here to wake Kagome-sama. She needs to collect the things required for her continued recovery." He had always done this for the little miko whenever she became ill since the start of his liege's misplaced persecution began. She deserved as much for the consideration she had always shown him and certainly shown his master. Myouga would take care of her in her sickness himself if he was capable of it, regardless of how Inuyasha would have reacted to his supposed betrayal. As it was, he refrained from sampling her blood at every meeting due to the knowledge of how the sweet little miko could ill afford such tiny snacks.

One silver eyebrow soared as Sesshoumaru pondered the flea's somewhat vague reply.

If the taiyoukai had been a bit more versed in the care of humans, the lord might not have needed more explanation than Myouga had already given. But Sesshoumaru had always delegated the care of his ward during her rare moments of illness to either this miko ailing before him or other allies equally conversant with the needs of the lesser race. Thus Myouga would have to be more explicit.

Something the flea quickly understood as soon as the floating eyebrow registered in his tiny brain. "Kagome-sama needs to collect more fire wood and water, change into drier clothing," if she chose to bother with another set of clothing at all, "and some food lest she fail to recover." Myouga did not add that these were all the things the miko had done for the villagers she had tended prior to coming down with the illness herself. He didn't bother to mention such things would be tiring for her to arrange and collect as she was. It was enough that he had to wake her to do them herself as clearly nobody else would do for the miko.

The eyebrow returned to its more natural location, signifying understanding.

Yet again, Sesshoumaru had been faced with another facet of the miko's life he hadn't deigned to evaluate as the reality of the miko's precarious existence. Even the slightest cold was harder to get over when the invalid in question was forced to tend themselves, simply because the effort of caring for a sickness cuts into the rest required to heal from it.

Myouga moved once again to wake the miko as he had for every sickness prior to this one in the post Naraku reality she'd created. The flea had no idea why the great and terrible Sesshoumaru was still in the hut with the sick miko as she obviously could not fulfill whatever demand he had. It was why Myouga had dismissed the lingering youki staining the air over Kagome's herb garden. He'd believed it to be impossible that the taiyoukai would linger when this truth had been made absolutely clear.

He'd also assumed that Sesshoumaru's original objections to the flea encroaching on the space inside the hut had only been due to the mystery of Myouga's intent. This had been cleared up sufficiently to the old youkai's mind so therefore he should be able to go about his initial designs.

Myouga pulled up short when his actions were once again met with an aggressive growl on the part of the inu. It was almost like Sesshoumaru didn't want him to touch Kagome, but why should the inu care? "Wha-" the old retainer began before he thought better of it. You didn't get to be his age by questioning the actions of youkai lords powerful enough to melt you into a pile of goo. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" It was better to ask what the youkai wanted of you so you could do it.

"You will not touch the miko," Sesshoumaru rumbled at the flea who was already too close to his miko. The night was his territory, her body was his property while shrouded in darkness, and he did. not. Share.

Dutifully, Myouga backed carefully away from Kagome, his confusion marked by increased sweeping of his hanky over his forehead. "B-b-but Seshoumaru-sama," the flea began nervously. He had never done much in his life, but it made him feel as if all the other moments of desertion were made up for when he did the miko a good turn. He liked helping Kagome get better, even if all he did was wake her so she could do what was needed. It was the only time he'd flown in the face of possible disapproval and minor danger and he was proud of it. Besides, the miko had already almost soaked her clothing, her firewood was nearly exhausted, she needed water – as she always told him – for she was currently out, and she would definitely need to eat something soon. Kagome needed him.

His reluctance to completely leave off his task drew another fierce growl from deep inside Sesshoumaru's throat. The inu was well aware, now, that the miko needed all these things to be done, but he was here, this was his time, and he would see to their accomplishment. There was no need for the flea to remain inside the hut at all, let alone touch the miko inside it.

"Ka-" Myouga began again but was interrupted by a stirring on the futon.

One dazed blue eye popped open and struggled to focus on the little demon anxiously cowering a few inches from her face. "Myouga-ji-chan?" Kagome murmured blearily.

"Kagome-sama," Myouga's voice was soft and mildly affectionate. "you are awake?"

Kagome hummed noncommittally before wearily pushing herself to sit up. "I'm awake Myouga-ji-chan. Thank you for waking me," She nodded to the flea warmly. "You'd best get out of here before you get caught."

"I wish I could do more for you Kagome-sama," the old flea reached out to pat a tiny hand over her curled fingers that rested close to him, but a threatening growl drew him up short.

Kagome blinked before raising her eyes to take in the inu resting on the other side of her tiny fire. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked in confusion.

Myouga, with his task complete had definitely suffered the taiyoukai's presence long enough. "I'll take my leave now, Kagome-sama," the trembling little flea squeaked out before rushing to escape under the mat hung over the doorway.

Kagome stared after her fleeing guest blankly. The whole situation was failing to make much sense to her through the fever induced haze choking up her thoughts. It took a while for her slow brain to give up trying to understand it and get on with the necessary chores.

She wasn't really hungry or thirsty, but she was well aware she needed fluids and food regardless. And while the time of year told her she didn't need the fire, the shivers running rampant through her achy body told her otherwise. Just as the moist quality of her juban told her she needed to either change clothes or just remove the ones she was wearing. A bath would be best, but Kagome had never been able to make herself go that far during a sickness.

With a gentle sigh, Kagome moved to heft her heavy body out of the nest of blankets that had fallen about her only to find a clawed hand pressing her back into the futon.

"Rest miko," the taiyoukai growled at the miko, her surprise confirming that she really should be sleeping if her mind couldn't hold onto the basic fact of his presence for more than a handful of moments. He wasn't liking the cold reality the miko faced. As a miko she was exposed to many illnesses regularly and while her immune system was apparently good enough to fight off infection long enough to tend others, prolonged exposure seemed to wear it down until she contracted what she treated others for. The difference, the miko had no one to do for her while she was down as her patients had. The more such injustices were brought to his attention the more his soul railed at them. More so, when they pertained to this particular creature.

"But-" Kagome began to protest weakly.

"Your needs will be met, miko," Sesshoumaru pushed her a bit more firmly to rest. "Tell me what you need."

"You don't have to-" his stern look was enough to quell her words before she finished. Kagome heaved a tired sigh before her cloudy eyes began to sink beneath heavy lids. He was almost afraid the miko would fall asleep before informing him of what needed to be done but then she spoke, "Warmth. Tea," for Kagome wouldn't risk drinking water from her rain barrel without boiling it first. It might be contaminated with bird leavings left on her roof, besides most herbs for sickness were delivered better with warm water. "Food that's easy to digest, like okayu," the miko mumbled. It was almost like she was back with Kaede being quizzed about such things.

It had only been that one summer after Naraku died that Kagome got to learn all the herb lore from Kaede in uninterrupted study. Inuyasha had seen to it that she was run out of the Village before winter set in. "If the fever gets too high, a cool bath," and she dropped off to sleep, too tired to care about the fever dreams that awaited her. Most of them had contained Inuyasha and Sango in different settings berating her for the death of their comrades. It was only when she was on the mend that she got to see her family or even her dead friends.

Sesshoumaru rummaged through the sparse contents of the miko's home searching for the necessary implements to carry out his self appointed tasks. Her things, what few there were, were well taken care of and despite the passage of time he was unsurprised to find the flimsy looking tea-kettle the miko had carried around with her in the days of the Shikon quest. Kettle in hand, the inu strode from the hut around to the barrel that wasn't as full as it should have been. Then again, it had been rather dry recently.

He dismissed his misgivings and filled the tin pot before returning to the dying flames of the miko's cook fire. Taking note of the dwindling flames, Sesshoumaru stalked out to what served as the miko's wood pile and realized that when the flea had said she needed to collect firewood he'd actually meant she needed to go out and _collect_ wood to burn as the miko's stock pile was nearly depleted.

How anyone could believe the miko that couldn't stay awake for more than a small measure of time would be able to successfully finish these chores escaped him. And not much escaped the great inu youkai. With a disgusted internal snarl, Sesshoumaru approached the nearest tree and promptly demolished it, taking out his frustrations and growing anger on the ancient tree before rendering it into small, usable sized pieces. Snatching up an appropriate amount of his latest slaughter, the taiyoukai returned to the miko's hut, feeding the flames meticulously before setting aside the remainder for later use.

The water was beginning to simmer by this point, emitting a soft plume of steam to indicate its readiness to be made into useful tea. He just needed to know what herbs to use for the fever.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru called to the woman sleeping fitfully in the twisted blankets.

"Hmm?" Kagome hummed sleepily up at him.

"The water is ready for you to make your tea," Sesshoumaru informed her and watched closely to note which herbs she reached for so that this task could be performed by him in future.

The miko hadn't far to reach for the necessary supplies as the hut wasn't very big and experience had taught her to keep her medicines close in the case of midnight calls. Sesshoumaru's bright eyes watched her select and measure out the powdered substance, noting the tang of its aroma and memorizing it for later identification. He watched her add it to the steaming water poured into the cup and the way she waited a certain span of time before lifting the concoction to blow the steam off it before placing it against her lips and taking a small sip. The sigh that escaped her then was nearly blissful in contentment.

It was then Sesshoumaru turned back to locating the materials needed to prepare the rice gruel he couldn't believe the miko was intending to eat. Surely meat would be better for her, fresh and healthy. Then again, he doubted the miko had access to much meat. Something to worry about later.

Kagome was dozing over her cup by the time he'd presented her with the pot of water for the rice. With a mild blink and a pronounced effort to focus, the miko reached behind her futon to reveal her tiny store of the necessary cereal providing further proof that the miko could ill afford to be sick.

It disturbed him the more her reality pressed upon him. And the miko never complained about anything for herself. She begged for nothing and used no one else for what she wanted.

This arrangement was mutual, begun at her request and he'd had every opportunity to refuse or end it at any time. He held the power in this situation as payment for its very existence.

Kagome never told him of her situation and he was beginning to wonder at her reticence. Then again, the miko never spoke to him of any of her hardships. The only experience she had bothered to relate to him was done in order to inform him of the male Rin had wed. It was something he could not have done anything about being long past, but she'd felt he should know it as Rin's guardian.

The things he did know about Kagome's life now was learned through observation during those months when he'd been studying her prior to initiating the first of their trysts. The miko divulged nothing, complained of nothing and asked him for nothing. Sesshoumaru was finding this displeased him.

He would have to find a way to improve the miko's overall health and general living conditions. Even as a human, she deserved better.

Sesshoumaru's golden eyes watched as the miko set the pot of rice in a cooler spot in relation to the fire before disappearing under the threadbare excuse for blankets she used. Apparently okayu didn't need to be watched too closely.

Which was good, the inu decided as the miko bundle began to shiver even more violently and consistently than before. It gave him time to apply the miko to a cool bath.

One firm tug dislodged the blankets from over her head and Sesshoumaru had lifted the miko from her futon before she'd had the chance to blink at the sudden change. The inu was nearly stunned at the heat emitting from Kagome's clammy skin even through the thin material of her juban and it occurred to him to worry. "What damage can be caused a by a high fever, miko?" he demanded from her in a rumble.

"Hmm," the miko shifted lazily to look up at him from her secure place against his chest. "Temperatures above a certain point can cause serious brain damage, disorientation, and a general break down of voluntary responses. In small children, it can cause seizures." Kagome was slightly confused that he asked. "Where are we going?"

Sesshoumaru didn't bother to answer as his long strides quickly brought the river into view. The water this time of year was cool, but not icy and he was certain this was probably better for her and definitely more comfortable for him. With out pause, his feet moved straight into the flowing waters until he was waist deep in it. Then he lowered the shivering miko's body until she was mostly submerged in the temperate, clean water. He ignored her sharp gasp and the sudden onslaught of violent shivering that came immediately upon the heels of his actions.

"Se-Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome stuttered as she clung to the strong claws keeping her just below the surface. Slowly the waters worked their magic and her body began to acclimate itself to the mild environment surrounding it. Her shivers lessened and her gaze sharpened to study the stoic face of the youkai hovering over her. She didn't know why he felt the need to help her.

It wasn't like he cared for her well-being. If he had, she wouldn't have sunk so low as to need to ask him to rape her. Kagome hardly believed a little sex could change his mind, for that was all their connection amounted to now and it was the only thing that had changed since last year. Well, that and Rin's marriage, but that would hardly bring him to care about her.

A moment later, Kagome gave up wondering about it. She'd accepted long ago that she would never understand the inu on any level. He gave her nothing to work with and she was too tired now to care. And it was a weariness that had very little to do with her current cold.

Kagome was just generally tired and had been for a few years now. She was slipping, entering the dangerous stages of long term depression caused by severe malnutrition. And she was well aware of it. As the saying went, something's gotta give, and Kagome was almost ready for it to be her.

She was tired of being hungry, of hurting, of being sad and alone. While asking the great and terrible Sesshoumaru to rape her had stalled it somewhat, it certainly hadn't cured her emotional exhaustion and had little chance of doing so. The illusion of intimacy can only do so much.

Still, Kagome had never gone down without a fight and she never would. She would keep doing her chores everyday, prolonging her life just that little bit longer, not because she wanted to, but because she was too stubborn to let it go. Besides, Shippou would be sad if she left him before she was old and gray. He would be sad if she left him then too, but at least then she wouldn't have chosen to end it prematurely, she didn't think the kit could handle it.

Sesshoumaru briskly carried the miko back to the hut and stripped her of her soaked juban before laying her on the futon he'd graciously added his pelt to. It was softer and warmer than the many worn blankets she had, and it pleased him to wrap the miko in something that belonged to him. Especially something that smelled strongly of his personal scent, such as would give the illusion of staining her with it since he couldn't actually proceed with the activities that were best capable of doing so. This night was just full of little disappointments.

Sesshoumaru nearly frowned at the possessive turn his thoughts had taken in relation to the miko's person. He wanted to own her in such a way that people, youkai or human or what have you, would back off and refuse to touch her. He wanted others to say the miko belonged to him which was absurd, as he had never desired to have his name linked with a human paramour lest he be mistakenly compared to his deceased father. But...

The inu gently wrung the excess moisture from the miko's soaked garment and draped it over the strange rack set in the corner to dry before shrugging out of his own sodden garments. It was when Sesshoumaru turned back to the miko settled by the fire that her harsh reality struck him forcefully in the face once again.

In their intimate encounters previous to this night, he had never bothered to strip the miko all the way down to the skin, he was mostly only concerned with removing obstructing garments. They weren't lovers and there was no worship of her body involved. He was there to rape her and she to take it. It couldn't seem like anything else, and though he strove to provide her pleasure through the violence and harshness of their coming together, he'd mainly been taking what he needed to reach his own pleasure. Sesshoumaru hadn't needed to know about her physical well-being and hadn't cared to check it.

Now, as Kagome reached to the pot of gruel in the flickering firelight, Sesshoumaru took note of every rib where the shadows remained solid on her skin. He hadn't ever noticed the way her body only remained fleshy in the places where the necessary muscle remained.

Her descent to such a level was unacceptable.

The glowing jewel strung around her neck was hardly a foot note in his study, though it did surprise him that it was there. He'd thought, as he fancied many others had, the jewel had been taken care of long ago. The jewel was something to look into at a later time.

The inu watched the miko eat what she was comfortable forcing herself to consume before Kagome set aside the pot for later. Then he pushed her firmly into the fur, wrapping her snugly in the white softness before laying to rest behind her, arms clamped like vices about her to mold her sickly, exhausted body into his warmth.

"Rest miko," Sesshoumaru breathed in her ear, holding her tightly against his body. Tomorrow he would hunt for meat suitable for curing before butchering another tree for the wood pile. Tomorrow he would watch the miko throughout the day from concealment in order to preserve their secrecy and tomorrow night he would return to her side to aid her recovery through the dark hours that were his territory. Maybe she would be up for something like what they usually got together for, maybe not. Either way, she would have him there for her.

She'd probably wonder what he could possibly mean by staying about like that. He wasn't really certain why he intended to stay either, but he would. Amazingly enough, nursing the miko was almost as relaxing as bedding her was and that was enough.

Either way, he would take his payment for this kindness at some point in the future. Not everybody was gifted with a youkai lord personally seeing to their welfare, however briefly, it was a great honor she'd commandeered for herself. It wasn't like him at all. She would expect him to demand recompense, if he didn't the miko attempting to squirm in his arms would protest. She'd been left on her own too long, slowly starving for many things beyond just the affectionate touching he'd originally noted. No way the miko would accept Sesshoumaru suddenly providing her with all the needs of her body.

More so, since food was often payment for her healing services, and while their little rape arrangement actually did have medicinal value as far as he was concerned, he doubted she would accept payment for letting him use her body. The miko had been very vociferous in her refusal to become a whore. This would take some thought.

Luckily, with the little miko nestled securely in a nest of blankets, fur, and one big youkai, her temperature fluctuating, but never peaking, he had plenty of time to think before dawn drove him from the hut and into the world. And the pulsing jewel about her neck was hardly a distraction under the barrier she'd kept over it for years.


	6. Ch6 Sick Torture

Sometimes, the things we start evolve into something we never wanted. This isn't always a bad thing. Kagome intended to have a one time fling. Sesshoumaru intended never to repeat his "momentary insanity". Both are moving toward something that will be good for each. Sesshoumaru is waking up to the fact that Kagome is in need of social interaction. Kagome is helping Sesshoumaru simply by being there and being herself. She demands nothing of him that he doesn't offer first. Not many people have offered him that kind of peace throughout his life.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Sick Torture**

Despite his reluctance, Sesshoumaru forced himself to withdraw from the miko a little before daybreak, ignoring his unusual morning problem to draw on his clothing. He debated momentarily about leaving anything of his in the miko's hut before determining the risk too high to allow it. Much as the miko might benefit from the continued presence of his fur, it smelled too strongly of him for it to be missed if Inuyasha should happen to visit on this day. Unless the miko kept it on her person and therefore under the scent barrier, which was also a risk as the hanyou would hardly be so obtuse as to miss Kagome's sudden acquisition of a large white fur with the state of her present situation.

Fur was a symbol of rank, wealth and privilege in this part of the world. All of which the miko was not a recipient of. It is unlikely she would have been afforded fur even had her life been what Sesshoumaru believed it should have been.

The chances of Sesshoumaru's detested half brother visiting the miko that day were fairly high. Inuyasha's scent in the clearing around the miko's run down hut was faint enough for it to have been two days since his last visit. The hanyou was nothing if not exceptionally punctual when it came to torturing the little miko.

Sesshoumaru could only hope the half breed would note the miko's sickness and leave off in short order. You did not attack an unarmed, injured enemy without serious provocation. It was unlikely Kagome would attack the brat to supply sufficient provocation to pacify the white inu about this situation.

But then, the hanyou had always been a little shaky when it came to real honor.

Sesshoumaru concealed himself in the trees overlooking the miko's hut to watch over it and her. He didn't expect to see her venture into the sunlight promptly two hours after sunrise fully clothed, though he should have. The miko had never failed to wake herself at the same hour no matter how much he exhausted her throughout the night.

A hand full of moments after she stepped into the light the red clad twit came bounding through the trees.

Sesshoumaru had expected the hanyou to subject the miko to his usual verbal barrage before getting tired of it and returning whence he came. Inuyasha was not exactly creative enough to think of new material often. So it was pretty much the same tirade delivered on every previously observed visit confirming the taiyoukai's belief that the half breed was a halfwit and lacking in vocabulary. The harangue was always delivered in the same volume and took the same amount of time. The miko never gave any indication of expecting any different.

Sesshoumaru was greatly surprised when Inuyasha failed to leave off his verbal barrage until the sun was nearly set. It was aggravatingly amazing that the boy could stretch his standard material and diatribe to encompass all the hours of daylight. It shouldn't have been possible for someone as mentally deficient as Inuyasha to pull off, but he had.

All day, the hanyou shadowed the ill miko about her daily chores, making no bones about laying into her at the first hint of dizziness or the slightest lag in pace. His verbal siege was constant, but it heightened at those rare moments when her illness rose up to display increasingly worrisome symptoms.

Kagome worked diligently to weed her herb garden, her back bowing under the sun did nothing to prevent her constant and progressively more violent shivering. She purposely went about gathering dead fall for her wood pile despite the obvious sway of dizziness that rode her every step and caused her to drop as much wood as she picked up. She even dragged out the blankets of her futon to air them out ignoring the extra trip in her step and the shaking of weary exhausted limbs. The previously rare instances of respiratory distress grew in frequency as the miko panted with the exertion of such constant effort in the face of knowledge that what she really needed was rest.

A number of these chores Sesshoumaru knew with certainty weren't regularly daily chores for the miko.

The Taiyoukai watched as Kagome skipped a noon meal and failed to ingest any of the fluids she'd explained were necessary for her recovery. And she never took a break in her constant activity. Her face flushed darker as the day wore on, a sure sign that his hopes of her possible recovery were being rendered little more than pipe dreams.

Sesshoumaru wasn't certain of the lingering effects such ceaseless, forced activity would have on the miko's already compromised health, but he was aware that it was likely to be severely detrimental. And his outrage over the notion grew steadily as the sun progressed across the sky and the hanyou failed to leave off.

If Inuyasha hadn't left her just before the sun set, Sesshoumaru was guaranteed to have done something drastic, violent, and likely to expose their secret arrangement. As it was, he almost hadn't been able to handle watching the hanyou abuse the miko that was sometimes his property so terribly for surely the boy knew what the lesser species needed when ill better than Sesshoumaru did. And it was clear this wasn't the first time.

True, Inuyasha never laid a hand on the miko. He didn't have to, the miko drove herself before him at his vicious verbal goading. And the pace she'd kept along with the way she hadn't needed to think of what chores to add to her daily routine to keep moving informed the watching inu that she'd suffered through this before. Many times. Kagome had grown very capable of appearing to brush off Inuyasha's cruelty, but the signs of her distress were very present if you knew what you were looking at.

The whole day was proof of it, because if she truly didn't care what the half breed thought and said, she'd have promptly returned to her futon and sunk into the dream lands she'd spent most of the night in despite Sesshoumaru's close presence. And Sesshoumaru was certain she hadn't fallen asleep at any point because he hadn't been able to force himself to leave her unwatched in the presence of his detestable half brother.

At no time did Sesshoumaru leave to hunt meat for the miko. Never did he leave to bring down trees to add to her woodpile. He simply kept watch over her increasingly agitating distress. She didn't need the wood now anyway, considering she hadn't bothered to keep the fire going while she was working to fend off Inuyasha's sharper notes of derision. And realizing the likelihood of a repeat of the night before, the miko was unlikely to be able to ingest any of the meat anyway.

The minute Inuyasha disappeared from sight and the sun disappeared from the horizon, Kagome began to collapse on the spot, whatever fortitude had carried her through the day deserted her and forced her into the realm of unconsciousness without any real warning. If not for Sesshoumaru's fast reflexes, the miko would have hit the ground hard and been the worse for it. It would not do to have a concussion added to whatever disease the miko suffered from.

Sesshoumaru was aware of the effect such an injury could have on a human having witnessed it back during the days of the Shikon quest. The miko and her companions were always picking up one injury or another, and while he had no idea how to heal most of those injuries, the miko had always treated each of them with seriousness. Sometimes the miko had cause to treat humans outside her group while Sesshoumaru had traveled with them. Often those injuries were severe and some could not be recovered from.

Watching the miko mourn for the ones she couldn't save had been an experience Sesshoumaru well remembered.

He placed the miko back into her freshly aired futon, adding his pelt once again, before going about all the chores he'd performed for her the previous night. In nearly no time at all he had her tea set to cool beside her and the pot of okayu ponderously cooking to mush, the fire had been built back up from the burnt out husk it had become through negligence and the miko stripped of the outer garments she had worn and stained with sweat throughout the exertions of the day. Sesshoumaru set the smelly garments aside while the miko unconsciously formed herself into a constricting tube of blankets.

Through it all, the miko slept heavily, proving that she was more exhausted than she had been the night before.

Sesshoumaru wanted to hunt down the half breed and knock all his facial features inside out for interfering with his plans for the miko. He was well aware Kagome very likely wouldn't have been up for true physical carnality and he'd had no chance of slipping inside of her, but he could have aroused her enough to taste of her. At the very least, the taiyoukai had expected to be able to converse with the miko. Because of Inuyasha, he doubted the miko would spend much time conscious let alone coherent.

She was burning up when he reached to wake her to take the tea.

Sesshoumaru had hoped she'd be able to drink it herself as she had the night before, but he was forced to prop her up in order to pour the tea down her throat. Although the herbs brewed into the hot water were supposed to control the fever, he had little hope of it being successful alone. Still, he waited a brief time to see if they would have any effect. When they didn't, he stripped the miko of her blankets and hauled her down to the river as he had done the night previous.

Unlike the night before, Kagome didn't wake. She barely clung to him as he carried her and she made no indication beyond an unconscious gasping and involuntary shivering when he shoved her into the waters. When he grew weary of standing in the cool waters, he hauled her back to her hut before stripping her out of her juban and he of his clothes before wrapping himself about her frame as he had the night before.

Sesshoumaru did not think it boded well for the night ahead that he'd already had to place her in the river so early in their hours together. And he was proven correct when the miko's temperature spiked again shortly after the passing of midnight. The repeat of the same ritual produced similar results with the miko unconscious through nearly the whole of it.

However, the miko was afforded some hours of restful sleep after her second dip in the cool waters. Something the inu was thankful for as it allowed him some uninterrupted time to think. The miko's naked thrashing had been a distraction as she had a deplorable tendency to almost strike him accidentally in some vulnerable areas when she wasn't flopping dangerously close to the fire.

By dawn, the inu youkai had made a decision to remain in the area another day and night to accommodate the miko's illness. The events of the night had left him worried and, though he wouldn't admit it, he couldn't bring himself to leave the miko when her health was so uncertain.

Keeping with their arrangement, Sesshoumaru forced himself to evacuate the miko's hut and hide himself once more amongst the trees, and like the day before, the miko woke and dressed before stepping out into the sunlight at around the same time. She did not look as though she could maintain an upright position for long, but Sesshoumaru had no doubt she would miraculously manage it anyway the moment he spied the leaping red clad form of the half breed despite Inuyasha's regular schedule.

And much to his ire, Sesshoumaru watched as the previous day repeated itself before his very eyes.

This was unacceptable.

Sesshoumaru was going to return to his home on the next day, which meant that if he wanted to hunt some meat for the miko, it had to be done that day. What's more, with the leisure to plan out and think in the miko's presence he had plotted out exactly how he was going to carry out his next fantasy which required he go have a potion made before night fall so that he could leave it with the miko the next morning. His design was for Kagome to take it prior to his next appearance and she couldn't very well do that if he didn't give it to her first. But none of that was going to happen while the hanyou was still present and hounding the miko. Sesshoumaru refused to leave the abusive male unobserved with the sick miko as he'd already proven incapable of taking her illness into account when dealing with her.

Besides, the miko simply could not afford another day like the previous one. Being ill at all was a strain on her resources, having that illness drawn out by the hanyou's refusal to let her heal from it, could be almost as deadly as not healing from it would be.

While the Hanyou may not care, Sesshoumaru had decided that if anyone was going to set up a death for the miko that was premature for her species, it certainly would not be the fool who failed to realize he blamed the wrong person for the deaths of their comrades. Especially when the one his fool half-brother blamed most on the miko had already died once years before that final battle with Naraku.

As such he was determined not to leave the miko alone with the hanyou unsupervised for the tiniest span of time. However, Sesshoumaru needed Inuyasha to leave of his own power without giving any hint of the arrangement between the youkai lord and the sick little miko. Thus Sesshoumaru made an executive decision. In the space of a fraction of a second, the taiyoukai had all but evaporated from his chosen observing spot and reappeared over a hundred yards west of the miko's hut. Without pausing to reconsider his options Sesshoumaru flared his youki about the area and released his scent uncertain his flash of power would be enough to draw the hanyou from his idle torment to investigate and otherwise annoy his older sibling.

Over the years, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru had settled into a silent and uneasy truce. Sesshoumaru hid his scent and aura until he was well within the village environs and the halfbreed left off attacking him in the presence of observers. So long as the taiyoukai didn't declare his presence before reaching the village, he didn't have to put up with Inuyasha's infantile efforts to prove his false superiority. It was the price of being the alpha, he supposed. Sesshoumaru simply had to put up with the hanyou attempting to usurp the position from him periodically.

Sometimes, when the inu lord was extremely bored, he would drop his efforts to shield his scent on his way out of the forest, just to hear the boy's explosive reaction. Inuyasha's impotent threats and cursing was always good for a brief moment of amusement.

He'd not felt the need to do so since initiating that first episode with Kagome. The distraction she offered was both engrossing and relaxing. And Sesshoumaru had hardly even considered the fringe benefit of one upping Inuyasha. Surely if the hanyou ever learned of his bedding the miko, his half-brother would react in a number of amusingly jealous ways. It was no secret to Sesshoumaru that Inuyasha, despite his fixation on the dead miko and his current mating to the slayer, had always wanted to know the pleasures of Kagome's flesh. Now he never would because Sesshoumaru didn't share and the miko wouldn't go there anyway.

Despite the years that had passed and served to change everybody else, the hanyou was still rash in his actions. Thus he never even saw the blow that knocked him out cold on the floor of the forest and left lingering evidence in a swiftly swelling black eye. It felt good to do violence to the block head responsible for his little miko's downward turn in health. Too bad he had things he needed to address before the hanyou awoke otherwise Sesshoumaru was willing to forgo his honor enough to break the brat's jaw and nose. It really angered him the hanyou's dishonorable refusal to leave Kagome well enough alone to get over her illness.

Hardly a moment later, Sesshoumaru was standing next to the sick miko expressing his disdain over the foolish hanyou's behavior. "Is the half breed always so, Miko?" He inquired and it was clear he meant to ask about her past periods of illness. Inuyasha during one of his routine tirades was pretty much the same as he had been during the jewel quest really, it was the prolonged torment of the past two days that he referred to.

It took Kagome a full minute of blinking at the big inu before her mind caught up to the fact that the Sesshoumaru standing next to her was indeed the real thing and not a hallucination created by her over heated brain. Then it took her a few minutes more before it actually clicked that he had asked her a question concerning the hanyou that had mysteriously abandoned her mid-harangue. "Yes," she answered softly. "Whenever any of us were ill, Inuyasha generally pushed at us until we moved no matter what the illness was. It is probably due to the way he lived before we joined him," Kagome sighed long and weary, swaying a bit before over correcting to bring her back up right and accidentally landing somewhat harshly against the wall of her hut. "He probably learned early that a sick hanyou only lived if he kept moving, prejudice doesn't wait for good health after all."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the unsteady miko surprised that even with the abuse of several years she still sought to defend Inuyasha. It was more surprising that her tone lacked any accusatory note as it would have held in the past. "Go rest," the inu bid her shortly. "The hanyou will not return before this Sesshoumaru does."

He left before the miko could express her shock at his planning to return so quickly. In actuality, had Kagome been in her right mind she would have been shocked the night before when she woke to the insistent shaking of her shoulder and application of her tea that it was Sesshoumaru performing such mundane tasks. But she didn't have the energy to make much of it at the moment. Nor did it occur to her that the strangest part was that he hadn't yet indicated any intention of using her sexually for his pleasure, despite the fact that he really could have.

Kagome may have been exhausted and ill, but that didn't mean Sesshoumaru couldn't use her anyway. She didn't have to be awake and whole for him to use her and it was within the stipulations of the original arrangement. Instead of tending her illness, he could have invaded her space and forged ahead to his own gratification. She would have been too exhausted to achieve her own, but Kagome wouldn't have complained. The darkness was his to do with as he chose and while she would prefer to enjoy it, she'd never said he had to let her.

But then, Sesshoumaru was always enigmatic to Kagome, and she'd long ago learned to let him go about things his own way like she did with a number of other people she'd met. Perhaps he tended her because he wanted to. She didn't for a minute think that he wouldn't demand payment for it at some later date, but for the moment, she would soak in the intimacy of having someone care for her while she was ill.

Right now though, her brain was too fried to even do that, so it didn't bother her that he was leaving and it didn't concern her that he was planning to come back. Surprise her yes, concern her no. At the moment all she could really bring herself to do was stumble her way back to the open futon left in the middle of her hut and promptly fall into a deep, restful sleep.


	7. Ch7 Peaceful Recovery

Mating, and marriage, does not necessitate love. Back in the day (less so now, though it does happen), People married or were married for other reasons than mutual affection, love, or even common interests. They were joined to cement alliances, family mergers, political manipulations, and the increase of class standing or familial wealth. In most cases, at least one marriage candidate had no say in the match. Women were considered property even as late as the early 1900s. Their parents - read father - made the match, transferring ownership of the daughter in question to her new spouse. Go back a little farther and even sons were consider property to a certain point. Children existed solely as proof of their father's virility. If there weren't many it was blamed on the mother's lacking fertility.

You know, history can really make a girl hate men! Patriarchal societies are rather biased and exceedingly prone to belittling the abilities of women. Another reason Kagome's life turned out the way it did. Being a woman of power in a society that insists women require a man's direction to be happy, safe, etc. often find women who do just fine on their own suspect.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Peaceful Recovery**

It had taken more time than he had initially planned to retrieve the potion he desired for the miko's future benefit. The seller had harassed him in the traditional method all purveyors of the more arcane arts are wont to do regardless of his rank or his financial means. Had he not been certain to need the fool's services in the future, whether for his miko starring fantasies or not, Sesshoumaru would have melted the tiny, decrepit creature on the spot the minute he finally received what he'd come for. The inu had even received a bonus ointment at the rather impertinent insistence of the seller without fuss. The ointment would serve his miko well and see to it she was thoroughly primed and marginally protected for the beast he planned to bare against her.

The only problem with his visit and the time spent there, besides the annoying riddles, impertinent assumptions and other time-consuming habits of the wizened old crone, was the fact he was left with precious little time before sunset.

Sesshoumaru may well have been a consummate hunter with exceptional youkai powers, but even he needed some time to track down an animal to slaughter. Time that was also required to get from the potion seller's hut to Kagome's. And the sun waited for no youkai.

It set his teeth on edge to make concessions to anything so insignificant as time in any situation. Apparently it only exacerbated his mood that the meat he'd meant to hunt was for his miko. But there was nothing for it. Sesshoumaru was forced to purchase the meat he had originally planned to hunt for her because of the setting sun. He bought her enough meat and rice to last her until he had decided his next visit would be. It was the only thing that kept him from slaughtering the chickens allowed to roam around the market he stopped at.

Really, he would have preferred to kill something by that time, but massacring egg layers in public for no reason was too much like a childish tantrum. Should such behavior ever get back to any other youkai, particularly his mother, Sesshoumaru would never hear the end of it. Well, he would after he'd removed the wagging tongues of anyone who brought it up, but it would be such a waste of energy. Better to buy out the whole market than hunt peaceful chickens out in the open.

Truly, the mere idea was inane.

His transactions were quickly conducted once the greedy humans became greedy enough to overcome their fear and let him make his purchase.

Even so, he still arrived after dark had already fallen. A quick sniff of the area around the quiet, rickety hut proved the hanyou had not returned to harass Kagome before the sun abandoned the sky. And now, he would not until after daybreak tomorrow, Inuyasha's nightly plans were likely involved with trying to get his slayer mate in the mood to rut.

It was simply one more thing in which Sesshoumaru had eceeded the brat. Sesshoumaru had a female more than willing to allow him liberties that Inuyasha's marked and mated female was reluctant to. The very thought of how easily he could entice the miko to want for him, agitated his already frustrated state brought on by the last few days of the miko's illness.

With a mental growl, Sesshoumaru shoved aside the reed door covering to step inside the miko's dwelling and drop the heavy sacks of food on the floor with a negligent thud.

Not that Kagome noticed, unconscious as she was on her futon.

The fire had long died out, proof that she hadn't bothered to feed it when she'd entered after Sesshoumaru's departure and had slept nearly all of the time he'd been gone. The sleep, he was fairly certain would prove exceptionally beneficial towards her efforts to recover. That she hadn't felt the need to build up the fire at any point between then and now was probably a good sign. Maybe.

It indicated that she didn't feel cold and as the weather was balmy for this time of year, this was probably a sign of her increasing good health. The fever was gone, finally broken after two days of plaguing her almost non-stop.

Regardless, Sesshoumaru set about rebuilding her fire. Just because Kagome was recovering didn't mean she was entirely well yet. As such, he would treat her as he had the past few days, with soft rice and herbal tea. With this understanding, he let her sleep as he went about executing the chores Sesshoumaru had grown accustomed to performing over the course of the last few days.

Sesshoumaru even stripped her of her clothes, even though they weren't in the slightest measure damp which had always been the reason for doing so before. He just liked the miko naked and saw no reason not to ensure she was now that she was on his time. He liked the feel of her soft skin against he own, even burning hot with fever as it had been before. Now it was slightly cool, but still as enjoyable as it was previously.

The arrangement between he and the miko did not offer much opportunity for such simple, easily obtained pleasures. Lovers were capable of basking in the presence of each other, the soft slide of skin resting against skin, the even melody of breath when the body was at rest.

Sesshoumaru had never been in a situation before where he could experience such realities. As an inu and a youkai of such power and standing, he was limited in his available lovers. There were too many females out to trap him into a mating, a relationship of such permanence as would truly leave him trapped. The repercussions of mating unwisely were severe and would come to nothing if instinct wasn't behind it.

Carefully, Sesshoumaru shook the miko awake to ply her with the tea.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome mumbled blearily.

"Hush miko, tea," Sesshoumaru placed the chipped cup to her chapped lips, his clawed hand propped firmly under her shoulders to keep her upright. "There is okayu to follow."

Kagome blinked as she sipped carefully at the steaming tea. "Than-" she attempted to thank him only to choke on the scalding tea he hadn't stopped pouring for her. The coughing fit that followed brought salty tears to sting at her eyes. Her hands shot up to cover her mouth and hopefully prevent the spray from striking the taiyoukai.

Unfortunately, her unexpected move caused the tea to slop over the side and over his pale hand. Patiently, Sesshoumaru set the tea down and shook the hot liquid off his hand with a sharp, sudden flick of his wrist. Then he recovered the tea and waited for the miko to resume a more sedate rhythm of breathing.

"Sorry," she muttered hoarsely, her hand clutched to her chest.

Sesshoumaru merely replaced the cup of tea without comment. He excused much because she was ill. He tolerated even more because it was her. He knew her intent had been to offer him sincere gratitude. He simply didn't want it and refused to give her opportunity to express it.

He had found the miko's expressions of appreciation for his continued abuse and use of her body displeased him. True, he wouldn't want her to make demands or take his attentions for granted. They were delivered by his whim at his discretion. Their encounters were directed by his pleasures. But it still felt wrong that the miko who fought and aided in the defeat of Naraku should feel the need to be grateful for his abuses. Even if they were at her request.

So, keeping in mind the miko's propensity to offer thanks at the earliest moment, he never paused in his efforts to pour the tea down her throat. And immediately upon exhausting the contents of her cup, he took up the bowl of okayu and plied her with that.

By the time he'd fed her as much as she could take, she was listing once more towards sleep. And it was he who was grateful for it. Gently he settled her back into the shabby blankets of her futon padded by the addition of his fur. Carefully he set aside the rest of the okayu still in the pot and the kettle he'd used for her tea. He would most likely press both upon her again before dawn.

In the meantime, the big weary inu slipped into the miko's bedding, molding her pliant body into his front in order to obtain maximum skin on skin contact while she slept. Before he, himself, sank into a restful sleep of his own.

Sesshoumaru seldom required sleep, but in the time since he'd first taken the miko carnally, he'd found he slept best after spending time in her presence and had thus begun to arrange his schedule so that he slept all but immediately after returning from the miko's place. As he had stayed a day longer than originally planned, he was weary enough to find true rest in her little hut, and he found it even more restful than what he normally found in his own den.

Had Sesshoumaru bothered to think about it, he might have acknowledged that this could be a problem, but he was too quickly asleep to care.

Sometime after midnight, Sesshoumaru came abruptly awake and momentarily could not figure out why. Then the scent and sounds hit him. The miko was aroused, the sweet, longed-for aroma pooled around him in a heady, cloying thickness that nearly sent his suddenly reddened eyes back into his head. Quiet whimpers punctuated the silence, nearly drawing an aroused whimper from his own throat. He was so overcome by the stimulation it took him a few minutes to realize the reason the little miko was reacting that way.

One of his long, elegantly clawed hands was massaging the tender flesh of her exposed breast, the cooler air sending goose pimples marching over her glowing skin and pebbling the dusky nipple. It was the other hand, however, that was most likely responsible for the bulk of Kagome's aroused discomfort.

Sometime in the night, Sesshoumaru's hand had shifted from its possessive placement about her waist to where it was now, currently buried between the miko's relaxed legs and rubbing firmly at that bundle of nerves he enjoyed manipulating. The female's breath came in irregular pants as her body involuntarily bucked under his firm stimulation.

Leaning forward, Sesshoumaru clasped his fangs over the flesh of her shoulder and his gaze languorously spilled over her shoulder to watch her hips shift against his hand and the firming cock rubbing at the tender skin sheltered beyond the cleft he regularly exploited for his pleasures. Slowly, so sinfully slowly, his fingers and sex were stained with the proof of her growing desire.

"Sesshoumar-"His name was choked off on a gasp as two of his fingers slid into the sheath he had no intention of tainting in any other way this night. His plans for their next interlude required her taste be as purely her own as possible.

That didn't mean he couldn't find his pleasure another way and in order to do that, he intended to force her to climax first.

He was well aware the miko wouldn't have the stamina this night to match one of their marathon sessions, she would pass out long before he'd ridden her as much as he'd originally planned. Despite that, he intended to get at least something out of this visit besides a greater knowledge of how to nurse a sick human.

It didn't take much as the miko had been well on her way to orgasm prior to waking him up and he put the flood of her cream to good use, coating his engorged length. Sliding back a moment to help him properly line up for the initial thrust, Sesshoumaru swiftly entered the miko from behind, diving deep into her rump, causing the miko to cry out in pain before his now unoccupied fingers returned to their previous efforts to render the miko completely mindless under the onslaught of provoked arousal.

His initial entrance had possibly caused her damage, but two nights lying beside the female, skin to skin had robbed him of his patience to the point where he just couldn't bring himself to care about the minor damages. His questing fingers and thrusting cock soon brought the miko to a second peak, after which she promptly passed out leaving Sesshoumaru to find his end without her.

The inu didn't bother to release her after expelling his seed, remaining buried in her body and pressed firmly against her back. He simply couldn't bring himself to disengage after waiting so long to gain purchase in her body. Instead he continued to play with her body, digging his stained claws deep into her cunt to collect her cream on his fingers. Then those same fingers found themselves buried in his mouth where he relished in licking them clean before repeating the action over and over again.

As a youkai, he wasn't required to eat much or often, but he couldn't seem to get his fill of her taste on his tongue. As soon as his claws began to come up with less of his treat than he desired, Sesshoumaru shifted, withdrawing in a smooth motion, as he slid down to gain direct access to her honey. The strokes of his rough tongue were long, slow and deliberately aimed to collect the greatest amount of her taste on each pass. It was a struggle to refrain from diving right in, but he managed to keep his efforts from breaching the surface by reminding himself of the greater prize to be had on his next visit.

If Sesshoumaru was anything, he was a planner, and a plan adopted and put into motion was a plan gifted with his undying dedication to see it realized the way he conceived it. Eventually, the increasing struggle to adhere to his own plan required the inu leave off his treat lest his control break and ruin all. In compromise, for relinquishing one delight, his mouth, fangs and tongue resorted to torturing his favorite breast in the way he imagined the miko's pups would have, had she ever been allowed such a gift.

In a detached corner of his hazed brain, a yearning was born, a possible answer to her missed calling, but it went ignored, unknown and dismissed while he was busy suckling Kagome's rouged nipple, drawing the blood to darken the surface skin more and more. Occasionally the miko moaned as she continued to sleep, affected by his constant attention but too wearied by the sickness she'd been fighting for days to actively participate.

The fire burned down while he ignored it. It was unnecessary with how warm he was keeping the miko, and her tea and okayu could be consumed cold as easily as hot. It wouldn't hurt her, and as such failed to be significant enough to draw him away from the physical delights he was currently enjoying.

Thus it was easy to detect when the light outside began to grow with the approach of the sun. In fact, Sesshoumaru snarled petulantly at it, for it marked the closing of his time with the female wrapped in his pelt and arms, stained with his scent inside and over top of her skin. It was not dawn yet, but it was close.

His growing displeasure with the terms of their standing agreement had never been quite so blatant prior to this. True, after the first encounter the rising of the sun had always been viewed with resentment. At first it was merely displeasure that something outside of his control had the ability to determine the end of his activities. Which only really meant that he enjoyed his time with the miko enough to desire its continuance both in each episode and its serial occurrences. Perhaps it was time to reexamine and renegotiate the terms of this arrangement.

For now though, there was no help for it. Sesshoumaru was a meticulously thorough creature, and as such he wouldn't open negotiations until he had studied the problem from all angles and decided what he really wanted from the miko and what he was willing to do to get it.

Besides, the miko wasn't awake to negotiate with in any case.

Sesshoumaru slipped from the fur lined futon to don his many layered clothing, wrapping the fabric about his waist, a sudden whim made him pause. He wished to see the miko wrapped in his clothing and colors. If she ever wore the fine garb he'd gifted to her, he would certainly see the miko dressed in his colors, but that simply didn't seem enough to appease his newly birthed yearning.

The inu wanted to see her drowning in his clothing, wrapped in his scent so thick it was almost an extra barrier between his miko and the world. Sesshoumaru shook the inane thought from his head. Darkness was the realm of whimsy, and the big inu had better things to do with his daylight than waste it on such silly thoughts. It might be something worth pondering when he addressed the negotiations, though. It was random instances of such thought that were directing him to reassess the situation after all.

Sesshoumaru stopped his efforts to redress before pulling on his armor. He needed to wake the miko to leave instructions for the supplies he'd left her and there was no way he intended to risk her injury on the harsh spikes. Not even his pelt would protect her from accidental stabbing with how prone to injury Kagome often was.

The last thing she needed right now was to hurt herself when she was already ill.

"Miko, awake," his deep voice rumbled through the air, a clawed hand shook her shoulder.

"mmm," the miko slowly answered his summons to consciousness. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" her sleepy mumble was strangely pleasing in his ear though he could not pinpoint what about it pleased him or even how it did. Which hardly mattered when the miko sat up and stretched her arms up over her head before she slouched forward wearily. Naturally, with nothing to support it, the threadbare blankets and soft fur slid down from her front exposing a breathtaking view.

If Sesshoumaru were a lesser male, his mouth might have gone dry. He could have been distracted to the point of forgetting his purpose in waking her. But Sesshoumaru was made of sterner material than that.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru called for her attention, drawing up her hand to place his prizes in it. "Full moon after next, you will apply this," he indicated the ointment with his pointer claw, "to any skin that may come in contact with this Sesshoumaru's toxins. You will undress, and prop yourself upon either that chest," he directed her attention to the sturdy wooden box she kept her treasures in before turning to the other piece of furniture in the room, "or that rack before you consume the entirety of this." He tapped the same claw against the container of the potion.

"Sesshoumaru?" she blinked at him blankly for a moment before closing her hand around the psuedo-gifts.

"Until then, you will regain your health," Sesshoumaru declared as he walked away to retrieve the dried meat and rice to deposit both next to the miko by the dying fire with a solid thump that caused her to jump.

"What-"

"You will eat properly to that end. This Sesshoumaru will not be pleased to have his pleasure curtailed by your lacking stamina." Having said his piece, Sesshoumaru turned to don his armor carefully placing each piece precisely as it was designed to go until all he needed was the fur still wrapped around his miko. The big inu turned to retrieve it, only to find Kagome standing unsteadily with her threadbare blankets clasped to her front with one arm stretched toward him offering up his pelt. How he could have missed her efforts to separate the white fur from the tangle of blankets escaped him as the view should have been arresting no matter what he was doing.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, I apologize for being ill when you came," Kagome declared quietly.

"It is no matter, miko," Sesshoumaru dismissed her concern. He hadn't really been so truly inconvenienced by her sickness. Tending her was strangely more relaxing than he would have expected given his original intentions. He had no further cause to stay with the sun coming up and his fur retrieved from the miko and properly draped about his person. To linger further would serve no purpose, "Recover well miko and remember your instructions," were his final words to the miko before he turned and strode proudly from the hovel the miko Kagome was restricted to live in. He would see her again at the designated time.


	8. Ch8 White Dog

September is hunger awareness month and programs such as No Kid Hungry are working hard to bring as many people into the know. No matter where you live, in what country, city, hemisphere, someone is going hungry. And over half of those who live unsure as to where the next meal is coming from are children. This makes them more susceptible to disease, depression, and less likely to succeed in life which in turn means that, if they survive to adulthood and have kids of their own, the cycle will repeat. There are programs established in most areas to help those in need, but many people remain ignorant to what they are. In these harder financial times food pantries find it hard to meet the increased demand with fewer donations being made. That's why I volunteered to work at a soup kitchen.

But you don't have to. ShareOurStrength, the organization behind No Kid Hungry in the US, is asking people to wear orange on September 24, 2013 to help raise awareness. I don't think that's so much to ask. Learning about the problem, whatever country you're in and the ways organizations are trying to help fix it can't hurt you and it might actually encourage somebody else to do something more about it.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**White Dog**

The figure of a large white dog slipped between the trunks that made up Inuyasha's forest, its pristine, silky white fur all but glowing in the deepening shadows of dusk. Despite its rather large, but not uncommon size when compared to mortal dogs, this was no animal and thus only a fraction of its true size. Luckily, only the trees and other youkai would be able to tell the difference.

Which was of little moment to the inu right now.

All that mattered was the full moon, the symbol of his power and house, rising intrepidly higher in the sky marking the designated night with his miko. If he were any other youkai, the inu might have expressed true eagerness. As it was, he was already in his more beastly form ready to actualize his fantasy of some months back.

This was to be a real treat. He enjoyed the taste of his miko when given leisure to partake in it but nothing could compare to doing so in even this diminished version of his true form. His senses were heightened to their peak even as he curtailed the amount of power he let loose to better maintain his presence in a smaller container than usual.

The bushes whispered with his passing without due cause as he made point to avoid them. All the vegetation bent away from him as though brushed by a larger animal than he currently was. In a way, it was satisfying that the forest bearing Inuyasha's name paid deference to him, but in another it was exceedingly annoying as it betrayed the illusion he had built in regards to his size. But he dismissed it as inconsequential as he approached the home of his target for this night.

Once again the reed mat hung over the door, a sign he had learned upon his last visit that indicated the miko was not to be disturbed. All who valued their continued health generally adhered to its warning except one old flea. At which thought, the youkai practically threw his aura into the clearing about the hut, choking the air so thickly with his youki lesser youkai would likely suffocate under the weight of it. He had absolutely no intention of being interrupted this night. In fact, if the old flea somehow managed to neglect the threat of danger and failed to succumb to the mildly poisonous power hanging in the air in order to enter the hut sometime after dark, the inu decided to just ignore him. He could always threaten the insect into rigid silence with little effort. He would not interfere with tonight's fun.

The miko's scent came to him in a wave, a rush of olfactory stimulation that had him absolutely salivating to sample her more directly, not that he didn't already intend to. She was ripe with the fragrance of her arousal, the very flavor he most wanted to sample.

The ointment his supplier had given him certainly lived up to the advertising, so far. She was stimulated almost to the point of release from just a brush of his youki. It was too soon to tell if it held up to the rest of the providers claims.

Like any dog worth his salt, the inu followed his nose past the mat covering the entryway and stepped into the subtle darkness of a carefully dampened fire and an artificial enclosure. Almost without pause his nose was flush against the exposed mons of his miko treat where she splayed over top the wooden chest as he'd suggested.

The scent alone in such confined quarters was almost enough to cause paroxysms of euphoria to shake his fur covered body. The difficulty of holding off mounting her like a bitch in heat increased as the little female shuddered upon coming in contact with his cool, damp, probing nose was massive. It was all he could do not to lose the thought of tasting the miko despite the hardship of waiting so long. His long sinuous tongue snaked out to lap at the fluid already accumulated about the source of it. The flavor was slightly tainted with the unguent, but still absolutely worth abstaining from the female's pleasure hole for a taste. His senses were full of her, his brain threatening to overload in titillation.

Once she was clean, he stopped playing around and dove right in, his pink tongue penetrating the depths of her honey comb. The moment the taste registered in his brain, thought left him and all he could do was search out more and more of what was quickly becoming his favorite treat. Nothing would ever be able to compare when he found the cognitive ability to make rational comparisons. To his inu mind, no other object mattered but the sensations riddling his skull with gluttonous ecstasy. His pleasure was only increased by her spasms of orgasm that kept him inundated with his ambrosia of choice.

He couldn't keep track of the time that passed. His brain was so bombarded by the reality of her taste there was far too little of his higher thinking left to ponder things so abstract and unnecessary to the present as the concept of time. It was all he could do to pull himself from the exquisite pleasurable over load found in the plundered depths of her body to recall there were other pleasures to be had.

It hadn't quite occurred to him to remember even that until he took note that the miko's continuing screams of release had diminished to little more than whimpers, and then further into husky gasps as though her voice was gone completely. It had been a bit of a surprise that, despite her increasing volume and uncomfortable pitch, he rather reveled in her enthusiastic praise for his efforts. His youkai healing ability was increased as the beast and every time his hearing suffered damage from her screams it was quickly healed again so that he could hear more of the symphony created in her ecstasy encouraged by his rough tongue rubbing against her insides as he sought out his treat combined with the side affects of the ointment, though he was confident it was more due to himself. Perhaps in future, he would refrain from stopping the stream of her voice when there was no chance someone would come to her rescue, he so enjoyed hearing it.

When he finally managed to pull himself away from the miko's honeyed depths, the big inu moved higher up her prone body with long licks of his raspy tongue over her salty, sweat slicked skin taking note of the parts tainted with the unguent he supplied and the vulnerable areas left untouched by it. Much as he preferred the taste of skin free of any other taint, he tried to steer clear of that taste to better avoid hurting the miko more than intended. The true reason for the ointment was to protect her skin from his roughness and corrosive fluids. All of which were stronger in this form even with him straining to temper its potency. The fantasy never included causing her pain. Inu weren't particularly violent nor interested in causing pain for the sake of pain. As the beast, he was out mostly to enjoy his instinctive drives. With a female, especially one that smelled as wanton as his miko did, the drive was to ultimately copulate. The difference between regular dogs and youkai inu lay in how that drive was accessed. A regular dog was in it only to procreate, to perpetuate the species. Inu were generally out to enjoy themselves. Hence the gorging on the miko's flavored cream and her salty skin prior to seeking proper coitus. To humans it could be foreplay, if they were ever open-minded enough to allow it. To youkai, it was usually only allowed between particularly intimate partners such as a life mate or female confidante.

His miko offered him a singular opportunity to experience something he hadn't expected to be able to until he took a mate, and possibly not even then.

But thinking about it was distracting him from the experience of it, and his cock was already straining forth, eager to be released from its fur protected sheath and driven home inside his bitch. He did eventually get there, and with one quick jerk of his hips, his slowly swelling shaft pierced the depths previously looted by his roving tongue and began to piston against her. It only slightly registered that she didn't move with him, or attempt to use her hands for anything, mainly because he'd planned things that way. The potion served two purposes, same as the ointment. It served to protect her insides from the inevitable exposure to his more potent toxins and it prevented her from attempting to fight him off or push him away. Put simply, the miko was incapable of voluntary movement, hence why all of her screaming earlier had been seemingly incoherent, forming words was beyond her capabilities then as they would be now.

He did worry, in a slightly abstract way over his sudden desire to mark her permanently as his and fill her with his pups. And having never pursued such activities in his inu skin, he hadn't been aware that such interactions would lead to this seemingly foregone conclusion that he would tie with the female. He was so overwhelmed with the sensation of rutting as an inu he almost missed the reality that he was swelling enough to lock within her until the tainted scent of pain entered the world of his night games.

The little miko had weathered the intrusion of his oral organ admirably, given that it was around the breadth of his humanoid cock. His inu phallus was slightly bigger, and he was certain accommodating it before it began to dramatically swell had been uncomfortable for her, she was so small. But he began to realize that if his fantasy was allowed to continue through its natural course, he risked damaging more than the soft tissue. He risked breaking the arrangement by shattering her pelvic bone.

It was too late to attempt to remove himself from her, as he was lodged pretty firmly and stopping while inside her was an impossibility despite his legendary control. With Herculean effort and a great deal of reluctance to leave off his fantasy, Sesshoumaru forced himself to shift into his customary form before achieving his release. He still wound up tied to the miko, stuck as it were as his primed body forced all of its viable seed into the receptive womb he'd found.

The miko passed out of consciousness shortly thereafter and he was finally able to assess just how long the night had been. Apparently, he had really enjoyed himself given that the pre-light of dawn was beginning to creep around the mat hung up for privacy.

Youkai reasoning ability was limited in the form of their beastly continence. Rationality and higher thinking was only obtained and thereafter maintained by constant exercise of will. They were easily overruled by sensory overload partly because their pleasures were limited to what they could feel. For the inu, taste and smell combined with the elation of free movement could all but reduce them to the same mentality of their less supernatural counterparts.

Sesshoumaru had known that when he'd come up with the fantasy. He rarely got to enjoy simply being inu as a lord. It had been stressed in his upbringing that wallowing in the joy of being inu was beneath him. To be lord over youkai was to be stronger than other youkai and the proof was in the human form he took and maintained through all activities. Hunting was easy as the inu, but easy wasn't lordly so he'd been expected to do it in his human form at all times. Any instance of rutting au natural, or rather, as the inu could only be done with an especially trustworthy female.

Humans considered it bestiality and therefore taboo. So a human lover would not have been a solution. His actions would have lead to the youkai under his reign revolting against him, convinced of his weakness, and therefore their ability to overcome him.

They wouldn't have won the point. Sesshoumaru could wipe the floor with the bodies of any number of possible foes quite easily. He just didn't feel like putting down such a stupid revolt.

With the miko, he didn't have to worry about it so long as they weren't discovered. Although, she might have objected to having relations with what amounted to little more than a big dog in appearance. The arrangement as it stood prevented her from protesting it in such a way that would prevent it from happening. He was supposed to be raping her per her request. Although, his fantasy would have lost its joys if she hadn't been receptive. The flavor of terror is not so enjoyable when sampled so closely, and the inu does not particularly love it as a beast. The scent of fear will make an animal nervous because there has to be a reason for that fear. That doesn't change if the animal is also Youkai.

The setup for this latest fantasy had been a real strain. Staying away from her had been harder on him than he'd thought possible for a mere human miko. It was irritating for a number of reasons, but the most pertinent one related to the fact he knew the miko had never intended for it to happen.

The female had made no effort to entice him into more interaction than they already pursued at present. Nor did she attempt to make what they already had mean more than it was originally arranged to. Kagome had assured him she would not entrap him or try to trick him into something permanent, and she hadn't. Of that Sesshoumaru was certain. She never tried to enrich their connection by telling him about her personal triumphs or daily tribulations as evinced by his time with her during her sickness.

Kagome hadn't asked for his help, gave no hint as to the hardship of her situation, and suffered quietly under the lot cast for her after the demise of Naraku. Such was the result of the human philosophy of accepting things as they were. He hadn't cared enough to check on things before they'd gotten so bad and the miko certainly hadn't given any indication that she expected him to care now.

It was only his own folly which was pushing him to care. Why, in moments of physical intimacy, in the course of his most primal and base fantasies he was suddenly contemplating that which he had warned her against wishing and aiming for, he still refused to wonder. How he could desire to plant his pups in the womb of _this_ female despite her humanity, her state as outcast, and her near average appearance could not be explained to his satisfaction.

When this first started, his nights had been spent thinking of Kagome as merely female, a human female target, little more than prey. After she'd healed him with her reiki, he'd been forced to add 'miko' into the mix, and suddenly his depravity became something he relished all the more because it was a holy female he defiled. His efforts to degrade her sexually had taken a dramatic turn from seeking just to control her, to train her over time as he could now distinguish was part of the motivation behind his punishment for her actions that morning.

On the day of Rin's wedding he'd refused to pass up the opportunity to test his miko's willingness to be obedient to his will. Rin was getting married, tying herself to a swine of a human male and all he'd been able to think about was testing the miko's receptivity to following his orders.

He was growing more and more reluctant to let anything cut him off from continuing to maintain contact with her body, be it the sun, the threat of discovery or his regular duties. Sesshoumaru had originally blown it off as a direct result of lust. He seldom partook of a female for any reason, his needs were never so great that he couldn't control them. No female ever tempted him so much that he pondered tying himself with her in effort of creating life.

Sesshoumaru had tied in this form only twice before. The first had been during his inexperience as a youth. Or rather, his first intimate encounter after puberty. The female was also a first timer and as the event occurred outside the regular mating season, conception was all but an impossibility. She had asked for it explicitly as a commemoration of her first experience and he being likewise young had thought it a good idea at the time.

He'd later learned that had his partner been a bit older, he truly could have risked pupping the bitch on accident.

The second tying event had occurred with another female after the death of his illustrious and fearsome father. As a new cardinal lord, lesser lords and vassals had been jockeying for positions of favor...that or trying to arrange for Sesshoumaru to sit as the puppet while they stood behind him manipulating things from the shadows. One such presumptuous cretin had gifted the new cardinal lord with a concubine. This wasn't particularly unusual in that many of the other youkai with similar political aspirations had done the same. The difference was that this particular female had been known to him in his youth.

She had been the half sister of a distant cousin and her connections should have protected her from ever being in the position to be stuck as anyone's courtesan, but through a perverse sequence of events beginning with the death of her mate through some unspecified malady. This unhappy circumstance had then been followed by the death of family she had been returned to and forced to rely on, leaving her without protector or provider. The ultimate driving issue combined with all the others that had so forced her down fall was that, during the difficult birthing of her one and only pup, she had been rendered infertile and therefore undesirable as a mate or a wife.

By the time she had been gifted to Sesshoumaru, that same pup was being held over her as insurance of her compliance. It had disgusted him, to find her so disgraced through no fault of her own, and he'd sought to rectify the situation. But such efforts took time, and despite little desire to do so, he had bedded her only once and tied with her to insure that his scent would remain buried in her sufficiently and enduringly enough to last out the time required to first liberate her pup then adequately obscure and confuse her escape beyond the reach of her captors.

He had no idea where she was now, and the irony of recalling her at a time when he was buried irretrievably in the body of yet another female equally as wronged by the world was not lost on him.

The miko continued in her unconscious state even while the gray light of the starting day grew stronger around them. He had used her hard, though the damage was somewhat lighter than usual. She would be extremely exhausted, and as he was still too swollen to extract his invading flesh, it was just as well she slept. Sesshoumaru had little doubt that Kagome wouldn't be able to resist commenting on both the unusual mode of his addresses in the dark or the fact that day was upon them and he remained nude and in contact with her, risking the secrecy of their interactions.

It wasn't that he couldn't answer for himself, it was simply the annoyance of having to explain it to someone up close and personal and definitely accusatory as she had a right to be. A small amount anyway, he smirked to himself. It was a concession few would believe him ever able to grant anyone.

Sesshoumaru gently dragged the miko, with whom he was still joined, down from the chest over which she had been propped for the night. His form once more the everyday facade of habit and power, there was no need for the added elevation which was all but required in the environs of night. He was uncomfortable atop it and he imagined Kagome couldn't be otherwise.

Despite his moving her or her previous discomfort, Kagome continued to sleep until her customary time of waking. Then she woke rather abruptly as her first attempt at a semi-feline stretch was curtailed rather blamelessly by her youkai attachment. The unconsciously confounded expressions she made rather amused him. There was a glimmer of the girl she used to be in those moments of her first waking.

True, she didn't come awake with the fiery spirit she was most known for, but certainly it reminded him of the innocent sweetness of unaffected youth. It lasted in humans for just so long. Kagome had been unique in that she had held onto hers for much longer than he had ever known possible. A strange blend of wisdom and naivete had always marked her way.

In these select periods where she was half one thing and not wholly another, the last wisps of her long ago trusting nature surfaced, probably a mark left from when she was half a child and not quite a woman.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome asked in a quiet voice, almost afraid to speak louder. She had never expected to be this close to the inu while entirely cognizant and capable of making out the fine details of his face. Daylight slipped in around the cover that served as her door, proving that her estimate of time couldn't be that far off. He should not still be beside her, laying with her. They could be discovered, something had to be wrong.

"Be still, miko," Sesshoumaru demanded gruffly as she made move to separate from him. Calling her miko in daylight, brought to mind the context in which he thought miko in darkness. He suddenly wished to... "Is the message of your door mat respected so well in daylight as it is at night?"

Kagome was growing more anxious and fidgety the longer the strange closeness remained unexplained. "Most won't cross it whatever time of day it is, but Inuyasha..." she trailed off, teeth worrying at her lower lip, as yet still unaware _just_ how close Sesshoumaru currently was. She finally gave into her anxiety and attempted to squirm only to discover her nervous movement arrested and not by a demon beside her, but more so by the part of the demon inside of her. Her eyes widened in stunned surprise.

"Relax miko, we shall be loose eventually," Sesshoumaru declared evenly, despite the increasing temptation to pursue more of the nighttime activities.

"We're stuck?" Kagome gasped in sudden discernment.

"Hn," he replied. Sesshoumaru wasn't about to admit that he had, in his inexperience with rutting as a beast, miscalculated as to the appropriate sizing best to use in mounting the miko. Once tying was initiated it could not be hurried to its conclusion and the overwhelming instinct to fill the miko with viable seed in effort to pup her had carried over despite his hasty transformation. He doubted she would conceive as he could scent no fertility at present.

In fact, he never had since their arrangement had begun. He'd assumed it was due to her health or his timing, but he had now visited her at all the different phases of the moon.

It could have been her malnutrition, he was even now marginally laboring to correct, but it could also be due to something else entirely. And suddenly this was very important information to have. "Miko, have you been rendered infertile?" the question escaped him before he could think better of it.

Kagome blinked at him before considering the reason he might ask, being stuck together as they were, reminiscent of dogs breeding. "Not to my knowledge," she responded gently. "My cycles were fairly regular before the...adventure began, given my age. But with Inuyasha being such a task master, my athleticism soon threw off my regular schedule. I would sometimes go for months without a..without evidence of a proper cycle. It has only gotten worse over time." She sighed somewhat morosely, as the subject brought up an old sorrow Kagome had discovered when she'd first thought to look about her for a husband. "I have not bled now since before Rin's betrothal."

"Would malnutrition affect this pattern as you indicated excessive activity had?"

"Sometimes," she answered absently, as she tried to shift slightly in search of greater repose. Being stuck in one position was soon more than a little uncomfortable beyond just the piece of flesh lodged inside her. If Kagome took the time to really analyze the sensations _down there_ she would have noted that she really was stretched almost beyond her capacity and definitely suffering from a dull pain because of it.

Sesshoumaru nodded to himself, finding it strangely pleasing that he was already remedying her infertility problem, refusing to identify the reasons behind his feeling. He would keep supplying her with meat, if nothing else.

The heavy lift of her chest under a weary sigh enticed him once again with her vulnerability to him through their tight connection. "Cease your movement miko," he growled in her ear. It was the only warning he would give and he almost prayed that she failed to heed it. His claws began to wander in anticipation of her inability to listen.

"But I didn't move," Kagome huffed defensively, confused as to why he would be cautioning her against something she wasn't doing. In the natural order of things, the breath she took and then quickly released to huff at him was similar enough to the last move she'd made to satisfy his lustful claws. Before she could take another breath, he was attacking the nerve rich nub he so loved to manipulate. "Sesshou-oh!" her eyes rolled with the sudden pleasurable stimulation quickly followed by a magnificent orgasm.

Her release, was also the release of his organ from her sheath and signaled the end of their playing. She made to rise and see him off but he refused to allow it, whether from a desire to spare her abused body or to keep her horizontal to better aid his seed in taking root he didn't bother to ascertain.

"It would be best for you to rest today, miko," Sesshoumaru advised her in parting, seemingly uncaring whether she followed his suggestion.

Kagome stared after him after the mat had sidled back into place behind him, idle curiosity plain on her face. The whole encounter had been strange in the extreme such that she couldn't anticipate what to expect next. Not that she ever could. Before she could waste too much time upon the night followed by Sesshoumaru's seemingly pointless questions into the state of her reproductive organs, she felt the fever of lust return to her skin. With a sigh most petulant, the weary miko gathered the necessities for a morning bath in the chill waters of the river.

Curiosity had driven Kagome to sample the ointment a couple weeks ago, so she was very aware that her desires wouldn't leave her no matter how many times it was answered until the unguent was thoroughly washed from her skin. The time of day dictated her bath had to be a cold one rather than any designed effort to cool off her arousal. If she were caught bathing, as was more likely during the day, it had to look like she was performing a cleansing ritual or she would suffer an increased circulation with the gossip mongers she could ill afford. And much as Sesshoumaru was probably correct in his advising rest, there was no rest for the wicked. Or the miko.


	9. Ch9 Mighty the Miko

Magic is found in the world everyday. The disbelief is rooted in the disagreement over the definition of the word. Miracle is universally accepted as something inexplicable, but magic...Magic can be found in the first breath of a baby breaths, the opening buds of flowers in spring, or the reality that average everyday people have it buried somewhere inside to be a hero under duress. Magic has many definitions and can be found in many ways. Some people find it in the breathless awe they feel when entering the sacred environs of a long established place of worship. Some people find it in nature and the robust worldly ability to diagnose and fix itself. Others think of the stage tricks and movie effects of the silver screen, stage, and show. Some believe in it only around the holidays. Some refuse to believe in it at all.

The ones I feel the most sorry for are those who insist that the magic they believe in is the only magic and therefore no one should believe in any other. It is not unlike organized religion in this way.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Mighty the Miko**

Darkness fell, as darkness will, in small increments of lessening light and increasing shadow, pooling in the deeper recesses of the earth until it overtook the surface of it at the recession of the sun.

The new moon was the only night of the month that Sesshoumaru could be said to be weaker than on any other, though even at his weakest, he was formidable. This was a truth undisputed by even the most mindless of youkai. In fact, the daiyoukai's mere presence quieted the activity of every creature within a wide proximity. There was no desire to interfere in the predator's pursuits whatever they may be.

It was the instinct of every creature to avoid that which could make of them a very light snack. For youkai this was as much a part of their make up as it was of any unthinking beast as proven by the okami, Kouga, when presented with the forming wind scar and the continued sensible cowardice in the behavior of Myouga, wizened and insignificant as he was. Sesshoumaru had never had cause to flee the presence of any since his long ago youth and even then, through pride and most likely the same brand of recklessness that supported Inuyasha through odds stacked against him, little had fazed the son of the great and terrible Inu Taishou.

Now, he was great and terrible in his own right, and highly agitated with the delay in his expected pleasures. His growing wrath at the delay forced upon him was hardly necessary with the amount of time he now had at his disposal.

Swift was his travel through the whispering trees and darkened brush.

When Sesshoumaru had come upon the miko's hut at dusk eager to engage in their usual activities, instead of finding the miko at some stage in the completion of her daily chores, he found the home deserted. Her garden had clearly been fully harvested and prepared for the winter. The wood pile had been built up considerably but completely unused as the smattering of undisturbed fallen leaves blanketing over top of it illustrated quite clearly. The nights had cooled enough to actually require the aid of a hearth fire at almost all times for a human to keep sufficiently warm.

It was this and other evidences that proved the miko had been away for some days. The way her belongings were arranged and the absence of certain key elements indicated she expected to be gone for several days more. This blatant proof of the demands made on his miko by outside parties was severely off putting.

A priestess was only so by fulfilling the duties of the role. She only received respect and considerations by serving the others of her community who made demands of her. In this aspect, Kagome's life was not her own and the only way to hold onto her tenuous welcome into the local villages and societies required she be both available and ready to run into service, whatever service was called for.

This was one reason why miko were often solitary creatures. Their knowledge and healing ability guaranteed them a place in any community while that same knowledge kept them apart. Humans distrusted those who knew more of arts not easily understood. That Kagome, in her greater knowledge failed to view youkai in the way most humans were accustomed to miko viewing them, was even more unfathomable. And that which is not understandable, there is believed to be great evil. Sesshoumaru could easily allow that life as a miko was hard even when fully supported by the villages they serve.

This allowance did not alleviate his displeasure at finding his prey apparently missing. His agitation only increased when he found he had little to track her with. Her scent was always hidden when not in his immediate presence and her reiki quickly dispersed by the natural efforts of nature behind her. The challenge of tracking her under this increased difficulty was not conducive to mellowing his mood at all.

Sesshoumaru was impatient to be with his miko and determined to find her no matter how long it took. There was much to be accomplished in a short amount of time.

His ire grew the longer it took to find her though. Sesshoumaru was not in the habit of having to wait when it came to his time with the miko. She was always just _there_ when the mood struck and time allowed it. That such a rude awakening had been forced upon him was most irking.

Since it was night and the proverbial leash was off of his dignity and self-control, Sesshoumaru allowed his disappointment to spur him into imagining and plotting just what he was going to do to the miko for this inconvenience. Perhaps he would be as violent and abrupt as he had been in their first trysts again. He was going to shred clothing and force her into many varied positions until the violence ran out of him and she was completely worn to unconsciousness. He wanted her used so hard she'd be unable to walk straight or do any of the chores. It would be so gratifying if he managed to do so. So far the miko had proven strangely resilient.

Hours passed as he hunted down the miko, surprising him with just how far from her home she had wandered. Sesshoumaru had believed her traveling days long in the past, finished with the end of the jewel quest and Naraku's demise. So far the distance he'd tracked her would have taken days to travel.

The hours of darkness whiled past until the sun rose majestic in the sky.

It wasn't until midday that he came upon any new traces of the miko. That trace was marked by a spike of reiki charged arrow quelling the existence of some low-level obstreperous youkai. As he approached her apparent location, a second arrow was loosed and another foe defeated just as Sesshoumaru came into view. His quick movement drove her to pull back another arrow and aim it at him before she identified who he was.

Upon recognizing him, she lowered her bow but did not relax her grip or remove the arrow. Kagome was acknowledging the danger he presented to her current company. He'd have been insulted if she'd dismissed his threat.

"Miko-sama," the injured man closest to her tugged desperately at her sleeve. "there's another one! Shoot it! Shoot it!"

Kagome rolled her eyes and scoffed at him, with a respectful nod in Sesshoumaru's direction she turned to administer healing to the men she'd been protecting. Each of the four were in varying states of injury, the one harassing her in a panic had a broken arm. With efficiency born of long experience, she bandaged two head wounds, the broken arm, a broken nose, various cuts and bruises before moving to deal with the worst injury.

Sesshoumaru observed her work, content to watch as her scent peppered the air with her fluctuating mood. It had been a long time since he had seen her in action, not since the days of the Shikon quest. He had forgotten how magnificent she was in battle. Her fierceness had always been attention grabbing and he'd never been able to deny she was attractive when her hair was blown back by the release of her reiki. The miko he saw today was the undiminished warrior of years ago, and then he watched as she was seemingly folded up into the smaller greatness of the healer she was barely allowed to be.

Most of her patients were quiet about her efforts. Observing her thoughtfully. One was pointedly loud and demanding, still calling for the miko to shoot the youkai. The last was unconscious and in need of splints for which the miko was required to leave the road to search for useable material.

"Miko, where do you go? You haven't aided Taka yet?" the loud one demanded. "Come back. Kill the demon and save Taka!"

Kagome returned with two solid branches to serve as splints for the unconscious Taka. "Someone hold him steady, please," she asked softly. The two with the head wounds stared at her blankly not fully comprehending the demand or unwilling to aid a woman whose trustworthiness they hadn't decided yet. The loud one was the one with the broken arm and unable to help.

"Miko!" the loud one yelped as Sesshoumaru disappeared from the far side of their little artificial clearing to reappear right in their midst beside the miko. "Miko, Watch out! The Youkai is coming after you!"

"What do you need?" Sesshoumaru inquired, his voice rumbling darkly under the directive of his jealousy newly birthed. Her display earlier had reawakened his admiration of the miko's battle prowess and power. Unfortunately, this revelation was immediately followed by having to watch as the miko in question laid hands on other males. It was day, his claims held no sway. She was in company and thus was not his. He did not like it.

"Hold him still while I set the leg," she murmured gently. Promptly a clawed hand planted itself on the human's chest and Kagome proceeded to set the break before bandaging it and splinting it tightly. "I am done. Thank you, youkai-sama."

He wanted to growl at her reference to his person so unfamiliarly but held off. Instead, Sesshoumaru rose to his feet and sedately moved to leave the group of humans out of sight.

"Why didn't you kill the beast, miko-sama?" her vocal patient demanded.

"He did not try to kill us, why should I bring violence onto the innocent?" Kagome returned gently. "Your friend Taka should make a full recovery given enough time and dedicated care. His bandages need to be changed twice a day and wound cleansed. Boil any cloth to be used as bandaging prior to usage to help prevent infection. Now lets see to that cut on your face."

"Wha-?"

"Hmm, it hasn't stopped bleeding like I hoped it would. There's nothing for it, I'll have to stitch it up," she observed to herself.

"Wait, what about pain killers? Or Sake?" the vocal fool attempted to squirm away from her grasping fingers and acute study.

"Sake would be good to sterilize the needle, thread, and the wound itself," Kagome answered vaguely. One of the two silent men tapped her arm with half empty bottle. "oh good, you have some, this will be better for you my friend. Less chance of infection. Makes for a smaller scar too."

"I'm sure that was for me to drink! The pain will be too much for me without it."

"Oh come on, are you a man or a baby?" She scoffed distractedly. She was well aware that Sesshoumaru hadn't gone far, but she couldn't leave these men until their immediate needs were seen to. With a determined nod to nobody in particular, she threaded her needle, doused both wound and thread in sake, and set the first stitch. "Will you hold still? If I stitch this crooked I do not think you'll be more handsome."

Her two other conscious patients finally moved to her aid and held the caterwauling man by the shoulders and arms. They still made no comment over the woman they studied so intently though each man's gaze held a sharp calculating light.

Women who traveled alone were rare in these troubled times, so a man dragged far from home by his liege seldom had access to women who weren't overly guarded or overly used. Were they at home, it would be them guarding their village women from traveling males. The few females to travel, usually did so for one of two reasons. The first was a noble woman who traveled under heavy guard to the house of her husband's family upon marriage. The second were those who could find no village willing to let them stay.

The second were most often whores.

That this woman also wore the garb of a priestess meant very little for only the miko of an established shrine were likely to be virtuous. The wanderers were little better than the whores they were taken for. That this same so-called miko would allow a youkai to walk past her alive, to share air and aid, proved that she could be no maiden woman.

Their head wounds helped them to forget the fact that it was holy power that had vanquished the two mononoke that had previously attacked them.

"All right then," Kagome sat back after an in depth study of her work. She locked eyes with the two men beside the whiner to convey the seriousness of her orders for each of their care. "His stitches need to be kept clean and mostly dry for the next several days. When the wound starts to heal, say in about a week, have somebody cut the stitches out."

"You speak as if you will not be there to administer these tasks," the one to the left observed.

"I won't be," Kagome answered brusquely. She was well aware of the types of thoughts these 'honorable' soldiers were having and she had no intention of being available for them to attack her. "The closest village is a half day's travel that way," she indicated the east with a gesture of her hand. "You'll be able to find supplies and aid there."

"You expect us to carry Taka there, injured as we already are?"

"You have a horse," she scoffed. "I expect you'll be able to effectively design a makeshift stretcher to drag behind it while our broken armed friend here rides and you two keep him in place. I'll even help you find the necessary branches to do it."

"you are a miko," the other man declared. "You should see us safely there."

"I am a miko," Kagome agreed. "But I am not without demands already on my time. Coming to your aid has already set me behind. You are not in danger of dying from your wounds, capable of traveling on your own, and I refuse to let you delay me any further so that you can attack me later."

"Attack!" the first shouted.

"Yes, I am a miko," Kagome replied mildly. "My duty is to see you healed well enough to finish on your own, not to see to any other desires you might hold. You are healed and my obligation is done."

"You are no miko!" the second exclaimed, playing the part of injured party. "What miko would let a youkai live?"

"Why should a miko kill a youkai who has not offered violence?"

"Because they are evil!"

"Says who?" Kagome retorted. "So a youkai walked by and didn't kill you or me. Big deal. Not all youkai are evil."

"So says a woman of questionable virtue," the man scoffed viciously.

"Yes, so questionable I refuse to give you the opportunity to sully it," it was Kagome's turn to scoff again. "I am well aware of what the common view is of a miko traveling. But as this trip is a yearly pilgrimage for which I have limited time to complete before returning to my post with _my_ village, you'll forgive me if I refuse to babysit you until you reach civilization, a task you are fully capable of completing successfully on your own. Two of you have the full use of your limbs. You have weapons enough between you to fight off any band of bandits you are likely to encounter on the road. And those would be _human_ bandits, fully vested with that evil you speak of as the sole characteristic of every youkai ever to walk."

With that Kagome strode back into the trees to hack a couple of sizable branches off a tree. She returned to weave the various leaf strewn twigs and off shoots together before tying it to the horse for dragging. Then she and she alone dragged the unconscious Taka onto the cloak she'd confiscated from one of her two detractors and draped over the dragging contraption. Finally she helped the broken armed man astride the horse before turning and departing from their sight without another word.

Sesshoumaru had observed the whole thing, studying the miko and all her old spirit in its long sedated and aged form. The miko was displaying symptoms of an aging disease he had seen in old youkai. One in which they just lingered without the desire to do so. The difference was that the miko was not yet old, even by this era's life expectancy for humans. The old Miko Kaede had lived twice as long as the miko. But then, the old miko had been accepted by her village, moderately well fed, and generally liked and respected. Kagome had grown old in spirit long before her time. Such a reality was yet another truth that did not set well with the youkai.

She was weary, and limping as she left the road.

He had noticed her seeming avoidance of the road last night. Then Sesshoumaru had been uncertain as to why she would choose to cut cross-country rather than take the road. Now he was certain he had a better understanding for it.

When she had traveled a significant distance from the fools she'd been forced to aid, Sesshoumaru called to her, "Miko."

Unlike former days, he had not caught her unawares, startling her with the suddenness of his appearance and attention. She did not jump. Kagome merely paused before turning slowly and carefully to face him for he had come up from behind. Perhaps he had meant to see her jump. It had always been entertaining in the past.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome acknowledged him respectfully. Once again, the inu youkai found cause for irritation.

He was growing increasingly aggravated with her continued formality. He had been more intimate with her person than any other creature ever was, yet she still kept him at a distance. It was irrational to feel thus. Kagome was treating him with respect she had once failed to give. Sesshoumaru had not awarded her leave to refer to his person with any familiarity and had been fairly adamant at the beginning of all this that there be no other ties between them than those of the body.

"You have traveled far from where I last saw you," he observed blandly, certain she would pick up on the interrogative vibe the statement conveyed.

Kagome nodded, "I take this trip every year, Rin could have told you about it, although she couldn't have told you where I go." She turned back to her original heading and began to limp along at a slow pace. "I've made it a point not to tell anyone, only Shippou knows and the only reason he knows is because he used to come with me the first couple years. That's why I knew not to call you by name in front of those men," she added with a glance back over her shoulder as he insisted on trailing behind her. "The first time Shippou and I encountered a group in need of rescuing they attacked me at the first opportunity after they found out Shippou was traveling _with_ me. They didn't even wait until after I had finished bandaging their wounds. One minute I was bent over an unconscious samarai debating whether to stitch up a gash while Shippou held him still, the next my haori was torn from my shoulder and my little kit was hauling the attacker from over top of me only to have another attempt to take his place intent on raping me in broad daylight."

That long ago attack had left a mark that still sent shivers down the miko's stiff spine. "We eventually escaped the brutes, after suffering mild injuries of our own." She paused to lean wearily against a tree before continuing onward. "We started avoiding the road after that and we both decided to refer to each other formally when forced into company. Familiarity with youkai, it seems, signifies a looseness of body that negates any need to pretend at respect and consideration."

"The kit no longer desires to join you?" Sesshoumaru wasn't aware of the purpose of this trip but it seemed strange to him that the erstwhile kit of former days would abandon her now.

"He is away at school and unaware I still make the trip," Kagome answered gently. "Shippou needs the lessons he's learning more than I need the company and he wouldn't be able to properly focus if he was worrying needlessly after me."

"You limp, miko," the inu declared, certain of receiving an explanation as to why she had yet to see to the injury. Finding it unnecessary to comment on her self-sacrifice to promote her kits long term needs, the miko was always thus.

The miko heaved a heavy sigh, "I twisted my ankle retrieving the parts for their stupid stretcher." Sesshoumaru's lips quirked upwards into an amused smirk, the miko could face down demons intent on prey and humans intent on using her for sex, but was universally defeated by her own clumsiness at the first opportunity. "Go ahead and laugh about it, it is fairly amusing I suppose. Kagome, the great shikon miko, slayer of Naraku, defeated by her own feet. Everybody always used to get a good chuckle out of my ineptitude for grace." She flicked a stray hair from her face. Her hair always defied her efforts to maintain it in the traditional style of miko, a task made more difficult with its increasing length.

Sometimes she longed for a proper pair of scissors. Traditional views of beauty be damned, she just wanted hair that was easier to manage.

Behind her traveled a youkai who might take issue with her thoughts, but he certainly wasn't starring in her fantasies of a haircut and style at a modern day beauty salon.

"That aside, I was certainly not going to stay back there long enough to treat it for fairly obvious reasons," she continued her speech, fairly certain he'd already picked up on the direction those two men back there had allowed their thoughts to travel. "It was possible that all I needed to do was walk it off. Sometimes aches and pains just need to be worked through via normal unstressed movement."

"Hn," was all his reply. Clearly this approach was not working as the miko's limp was not getting better, rather it seemed to be growing worse.

Kagome stopped altogether and turned back to him, annoyance clearly noted in every line and feature. "I am aware it's not working," she grumbled. "However, there's really nothing else I can do about it until I reach the brook a bit further ahead. Once I reach it, I can wet some cloth and wrap it around my ankle to maybe bring down the swelling." She turned once again to resume her journey. "Keeping off it isn't an option," she muttered under her breath. She had to get to her destination and back again in a relatively limited amount of time. The harvest was done and over with, so the injuries generally associated therewith were already treated. There were no births expected any time soon, which meant Kagome didn't have to be back until the first round of winter colds was expected.

It was a rather ambiguous deadline, but not overly so, since the village generally tried to get by without her help as much as possible. She had time to get there and back if she didn't dawdle too much. Kagome stumbled over a patch of rough, uneven ground, further wrenching her pained ankle with a clench of her teeth.

Sesshoumaru had to fight not to frown at the miko's spike of pain. It displeased him that she continued on as if he weren't available to offer aid, conveniently forgetting that they were no longer allies and had not been for some years. She would not ask for aid having grown used to having no one willing to offer that aid. With a sub-vocal snarl, the inu youkai strode forward and physically swept the female off her feet.

"Wha-?" the miko nearly demanded before he cut her off.

"This Sesshoumaru desires to discuss a subject of some importance before you further disable yourself miko," he declared shortly, his tone silencing her protest as he carried her off into the forest determined to have his way.


	10. Ch10 Amendment

How apropos of Sesshoumaru to use such high-handed tactics. It is very like the well-off to view as insignificant the vital essentials things the less well-off require to live. I think I covered this somewhat in _Wild_. Just because you need something now, does not outweigh the long term needs for survival. Kagome's sprain may have taken longer to heal without wrapping it, but the blanket-threadbare as it was-better served her whole than in pieces. She wasn't likely to die of a sprained ankle, but the cold of coming winter?

Then again, Sesshoumaru has **plans**. Kagome is not yet privy to them, but she soon will be. Our favorite miko will be gifted quite generously with a rare thing, an explanation from the Western Lord! How often does that happen? Granted he probably should have just promised a replacement before rending her blanket to shreds like that, but he's an inu of action. Ask forgiveness later...if you can't get out of it completely, that's the Sesshoumaru way!

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Amendment**

Beast of burden had never been a role Sesshoumaru had fulfilled prior to this moment, but he could not find it in himself to mind it. The miko, through a combination of her prolonged malnutrition and his general youkai strength, was hardly a burden regardless of what else she carried around with her. Carrying her served a number of purposes, not least of which was simply preventing her further injury due to her own stubbornness. He may not know much about how to heal a human injury, but one thing he did know was nothing could heal while under continued stress similar in nature to what caused the injury.

There was a slightly more selfish benefit to bearing the miko thusly. It was still day light and her body was cradled firmly against his torso and she couldn't offer a valid protest against it even if she wanted to be difficult. She was miko, a healer. He could only wish for the absence of his metal and bone breast plate as it prevented her warmth from reaching the skin of his chest. It was probably also the reason she wouldn't relax more into his hold.

Kagome held herself stiffly, carefully stilling any telltale hints of her discomfort with her sudden situation. She had very rarely been swept off her feet to be held in any other method than simply being thrown over a shoulder like a limp bag of rice. The last person to hold her like something precious now spent most of his time trying to break her down. Years under Inuyasha's abuse had not quite broken her spirit, but she had grown too tired to fight back any more. He'd broken a bit of her stubbornness and extinguished a bit of her fire.

Perhaps the same would have happened with the progress of years, mellowing her out with the onset of timely maturity and lessening insecurity. There was no way to know now. Kagome worked hard to avoid being bitter about it. Such sentiment would expend more energy than she had the luxury for and would accomplish nothing but taking away the one thing she had left to help her survive. Bitterness was something a miko who had no other options could not afford.

These were old problems, long ago dealt with despite their new resurfacing under Sesshoumaru's strange behavior. Kagome could not bring herself to believe the taiyoukai meant anything by his actions beyond preventing her further injury. She'd learned her lesson about trying to interpret the meaning behind a male's actions a long time ago. Unless the male in question indicated there was hidden meaning, there probably wasn't. Besides, she was content with their interactions the way each one generally played out.

Sesshoumaru carried her right up to the little trickle of water that served as the miko's "brook" before he set her down gently on her rear. He was surprised at just how far he'd had to travel to reach it given the general human measure of distances. He'd failed to take into account that the miko had traveled extensively in her younger days, and she was injured. Kagome had most likely down played the distance to herself to keep her spirits bolstered. Despite his thoughts, Sesshoumaru swiftly divested her of her worn sandal and tabi sock, ignoring her hiss of pain as the now tight cloth released her swollen flesh.

Without his prompting, Kagome dropped her aching ankle into the frigid water that gurgled past, tripping over the pebbles in its diminished iciness. The "brook" as she'd termed it, owed its waters to run off from the mountain some way distant. In the spring it swelled to a great rapid, exceedingly difficult to cross, but in late autumn the flow was hardly a footnote in the landscape. A source of water to fill bottles and bathe hands and feet in, but little else. It was often too cold to even tempt that much contact with it, but for now, it was necessary to bring the swelling down in her poor ankle.

Sesshoumaru allowed the miko to rest her damaged limb in the water a few moments before retrieving it and probing the tender area with strong, firm fingers and claws. Sesshoumaru may not understand how to cure ailments of the softer variety, but injuries from activity such as broken bones were an old lesson learned from his esteemed father.

The late Taishou had believed that if one was going to deal out injury, one had best learn what it took to heal such injury the better to properly gauge the appropriate punishment each situation warranted. Bones broke in the same way regardless of the species. Youkai aiming for the human appearance had to properly study the human animal to achieve the image of it and that included their bone structure.

"I don't think anything is broken, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome observed mildly, despite his painful prodding. "It is not painful enough for that. It is probably merely sprained."

Sesshoumaru was unfamiliar with sprains, youkai healing being what it was, such injuries hardly lasted long enough to be evaluated as such. "Explain."

Kagome sighed, lifting her abused ankle from his grasp and plopping it back into the frigid flow. "The human body is comprised of a support system that subsists of a skeleton of bones and a network of muscles and tendons that allows the human race to stand upright and move. The severest injuries involve breaks and fractures of the bones in the skeletal network. Slightly less severe injuries, though occasional more painful, include pulled or strained muscles, torn tendons and sprains which occur around joints."

"Youkai do not suffer such," Sesshoumaru declared.

Kagome shook her head, "Youkai may not notice such injuries as much as humans do, but they do suffer the same. Sometimes quite spectacularly." She herself had been cause of a number of such injuries on Inuyasha's person in the past. "Being lesser injuries, they can sometimes take even longer to heal due to the smaller amount of care taken for them. Broken bones force a body to rest because it cannot be used at all. Sprains and strains can support a bit of weight although they typically shouldn't to aid in healing."

Sesshoumaru listened closely as her knowledge spilled dispassionately from her lips, each syllable filled with hard won information released so carelessly into the ether. Healers were known for their tight-lipped ways, keeping themselves apart to better market their trade. Kagome didn't care about that. "You said something about wrapping it," the youkai reminded her gently.

"Wrapping it tightly helps to keep down the swelling while supporting the joint cutting down on the strain during use. Not too tightly of course, lest it cut off the circulation. Poor circulation can lead to necrosis which, in the severest cases, can require amputation," she answered absently, as she leaned forward to better gauge how much longer her ankle needed to be kept exposed to the water. The season was late enough and the water cool enough that she risked frost bite if she left it in too long. "I don't really have anything to wrap it with at the moment," she muttered as an after thought.

The sound of cloth ripping abruptly drew her attention from her thoughts and her ankle only to find her youkai companion in possession of her meager bedroll rending one of her few, if threadbare, blankets into so many rags. "Sesshoumaru!" she gasped in dismay. Cloth and blankets were very dear and she had no means of replacing them. With the nights growing steadily cooler on the road, there was little chance she would survive them without both a fire and her blankets, meager though they were. One twisted ankle hardly outweighed her need of the nightly warmth on this trip and the seasons to come. "I needed those," she mourned the ruined cloth, reaching slowly to finger the soft strips.

"You needed to wrap the ankle," Sesshoumaru declared.

Kagome chuckled mirthlessly, "I needed to survive the winter, too." With a deflating sigh, she reached out purposely and collected a handful of the material and dipped it into the frigid water. If she wrung out the excess water and then wrapped it snugly about her injured ankle and wrapped dry cloth around it, it would almost be like a cold compress back home, allowing her to continue on her way. "You wished to speak about something?"

Instead of taking her hint and opening the subject of his desired amendment to this arrangement of theirs, Sesshoumaru firmly removed the rags from her hands and carefully squeezed out more of the frigid water than she ever would have been able to. When he was satisfied with his efforts he began to wrap her injured ankle, stoically marveling at the rainbow of discoloration spreading over her skin in a splotchy tide. "Is it too tight?" he demanded of her as he tucked the end into the fold.

Kagome wiggled her toes then flexed and relaxed her ankle a bit, "It's fine," she answered, concurrently reaching for a few more strips of cloth only to have the big inu beat her to it. "I can do it," she began only to stop short when Sesshoumaru interrupted her pointedly.

"Miko," he growled and tucked the end of the second wrap into the folds. His work completed, he sat back on his heels to observe her. It was obvious the miko was slightly annoyed by his perceived high-handedness. Sometimes the miko was amazingly amusing without the need for their evening escapades. He imagined greater familiarity with the clothed miko would offer a certain level of true entertainment. She had been something to watch when she was younger, he recalled. "This Sesshoumaru has grown dissatisfied with the arrangement currently in place," the youkai lord announced, amber eyes firmly set on Kagome's face.

He expected his statement to open the door to negotiation or at the very least inspire protests from the formerly spirited miko counterpart of this discussion. Sesshoumaru had not predicted that Kagome would simply nod sharply to herself before struggling to her feet. Every indication suggested that she was simply going to walk away from him and his blunt declaration.

Truly, Kagome had expected Sesshoumaru to grow tired of their liaisons eventually. She certainly wasn't getting any younger and had very little to offer. She'd kind of hoped he'd just stop coming one day leaving her always wondering if he'd be back again, similar to the way things were now. Foolish of her. If she'd wanted ambiguity in her dealings with her requested rapist, she should have picked someone else. Sesshoumaru would never end things without giving her notice. It was simply his way.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru demanded a verbal reaction from his miko partner.

"I understand, Sesshoumaru-sama. Though you didn't have to inform me of its ending," Kagome dismissed him and moved to continue on her journey.

It surprised Sesshoumaru that she would think thus. "This Sesshoumaru has not ended this agreement."

This caused the miko to stop and turn to him in surprise. Unlike former days, Kagome did not demand a clarification immediately. Age had taught her to wait for the answers that would be coming forthwith anyway.

He wanted to growl at her in frustration, but stoically held off. Displays of petulance had no place in negotiations of any kind let alone ones that meant this much to him. "Miko, how much of youkai did you learn from your slayer companion?" He wanted to add "before she proved to be a malicious fool" but left it off as such opinions had little baring on the topics presently being discussed.

"Bits and pieces about various species, mainly about defending against specific foes we encountered, nothing comprehensive." she answered growing more and more curious by the second.

"Hn, then this Sesshoumaru shall explain as though you know nothing to ensure a complete understanding is achieved. This one intends no insult if he repeats information you have already been made aware of," Sesshoumaru pointedly informed her. "You will rest here for the duration."

"But I kind of need to get moving-"

"The time will be made up after our discussion," Sesshoumaru assured her. "This Sesshoumaru gives his word," for he had absolutely no intention of leaving her side for the next two months anyway. Carrying her around simply gave him more excuses to molest the miko when she might have rather he pretended to indifference. When the miko settled back onto her rump with a huff and he was satisfied that she was not going to attempt standing back up for the duration, he got on with the more uncomfortable portion of these negotiations. Sesshoumaru was never the type to willingly explain himself after all. "Directly between the first and second full moon of autumn every six years, every youkai female of canine persuasion begins to emit the scent of their fertility."

"Pheromones," Kagome sighed wearily. Youkai males of practically any species didn't go into heat, females did.

Sesshoumaru inclined his head, pleased that she understood the concept adequately. "Given that males of similar species have incomparably powerful senses for the detection of scents, there is no escaping the effects of these pheromones. Lesser males succumb to the call with the first female they encounter regardless of species, willingness or age. More powerful youkai manage to hold off until they find a worthwhile female of the proper species. The frenzy produced by this natural drive to procreate can drive a male to be...most enthusiastic in his efforts to procreate, leading to the death of lesser females who are encountered by males she cannot handle."

"This Sesshoumaru, being a lord, cannot allow himself to participate in such risky behavior. This Sesshoumaru's heir must be powerful and birthed of a worthy female," he declared wearily. It was times like this when he almost wished he wasn't held up to such a high standard. "As such this Sesshoumaru has taken measures in the past to prevent the possibility of producing unworthy offspring or making an unsavory connection with an unworthy female." Such steps were excruciating though. "There being nowhere on land to escape the scent of female readiness and the less than amphibious nature of inu, this one has been driven to great lengths to prevent an unworthy, unpalatable female from conceiving this one's heir." The miko sat patiently waiting for him to get to the point. She clearly didn't see how this would apply to her or their arrangement beyond ending it, and Sesshoumaru refused to end it.

"There is a den, designed to keep this Sesshoumaru from regretting any actions taken whilst under the influence of the season. This one's father use to conceal himself and his chosen playmate for the duration which is the ideal use for it. Locking oneself inside it alone can be extremely painful," as the blood boiled to answer that call to rut.

"This Sesshoumaru has decided to face this coming season differently from all his past ones," the inu youkai announced. "As this Sesshoumaru refuses to face another rutting season without the relief of a worthy partner. You, however, are unlikely to survive the full amorous enthusiasm of this Sesshoumaru without his usual restraint." Her human body could hardly stand up to the smallest exposure to his toxic fluids. In a pheromone induced frenzy, all restraint would be lost unless he instinctively identified the need to care for her human delicacy.

"No," Kagome said firmly catching a glimmer of where this was going, though he continued to ignore her.

"This Sesshoumaru refuses to allow the sun to continue dictating when I can and can't enjoy you." He proceeded to lay out the rest of his reasoning. "I grow weary of watching you hurt and disrespected by the ones you save over and over again. This Sesshoumaru has become impatient with your failure to seek out my aid when you are starving, injured or ill even when I stand right before you and capable of it. The Shikon no Miko who defeated Naraku should not live such a precarious existence. It disturbs this Sesshoumaru what you were driven to by your former comrades." Even if it had opened the door to his current favorite way of spending his free time.

"My life is not your responsibility," the miko grumbled with slowly increasing ire that he blatantly disregarded.

"Therefore this Sesshoumaru has decided, given the consideration of all aspects of the situation to make you mine through a permanent mating," he concluded his speech with finality.

"Absolutely not," Kagome declared hotly. "I will not mate you. Whatever happened to your prejudice against humans? What about your need of a powerful heir? I refuse. I'd rather we ended this now!"

Sesshoumaru smirked at the female as darkness descended quite deliberately. Autumn brought on the lengthening night and if it were not for the coming rutting season he might have been willing to keep to their agreement as it was originally stipulated despite his growing ire over being limited to using her only in darkness. Sesshoumaru gently lifted the irate little miko from where she sat and plopped her straddling his growing evidence of desire. Before she could offer any protest, he had removed all the barriers between him and the connection he sought. Her squeak of angry surprise was most satisfying. "Do not misunderstand, you do not have the option of refusal in this anymore than you did in the original arrangement."

Kagome grunted, "The hell I don't! The arrangement never allowed for a mating to occur."

With a purring growl, Sesshoumaru gently lowered the miko to lay on her back, careful not to jostle her damaged ankle while not sacrificing the deep connection between their two bodies. He kept his motions gentle and penetrating. "You have not even heard what you will gain from mating this Sesshoumaru."

"I don't care, the answer is still no!" she gasped out fiercely in return.

Sesshoumaru upped the intensity of his never ending growl, robbing the miko of much of her previous coherency before continuing. "You will have access to this Sesshoumaru during the day. I must warn you though," he grunted as he thrust particularly deep into the soft female body beneath him, "I will finish anything you start."

"Sex isn't everything," Kagome managed breathlessly, despite her frying braincells. "I have other things to do."

"Hn." Sesshoumaru ran his tongue over the skin of her neck, nudging the shoulder of her hoari aside to gain access to her shoulder. "I will find you a better post where the people you serve will treat you with proper respect and honor."

"I like being where I am," she insisted. "I am as close to my family as I'll ever be again."

"This Sesshoumaru will provide you with more family," he insisted with a sharp nip of teeth over her collarbone driving a breathless gasp from her lips. "You will bare pups to love and nurture," he dangled this last benefit for her, growling as he began to swell. Just thinking about impregnating the miko was driving him to tie with her once again.

"The," she panted heavily, "answer is still...no-oh!" Kagome's words became incoherent as he drove her over the edge. Momentarily he followed behind her, his peak sending stars exploding across his vision, locked as it was on the face of his miko. Sesshoumaru had hoped that she would claim her orgasm with exclamations more typical of euphoria and bliss, but she was ever defiant.

When they both began to recover their wits, he was still locked inside his female, slumped over top of her with Kagome cushioned upon his pelt. He didn't mind being unable to move away from her, he'd planned to keep her safely warm throughout the night hours anyway. Her fragile human body was far too susceptible to the cold for him to have worked things out otherwise, although he might have built a fire to aid him in his efforts.

The miko's panting slowly began to even out, her choppy breathing hindered further by the weight of him bearing down over her chest. "Two weeks, miko," Sesshoumaru rumbled against her collarbone, the vibrations hindering her efforts to calm after the storm he'd thrown over her body. "Two weeks to reach wherever you are going before this Sesshoumaru will carry you off to our mating."

"I said no," Kagome murmured stubbornly as she drowsed. Half awake or driven to the pinnacle of pleasure, Kagome wouldn't give into this.

Sesshoumaru nearly chuckled, "This Sesshoumaru has already told you, you never had the option of refusal."


	11. Ch11 In the Details

Go Kagome, Go! Is it bad for me to enjoy her stubbornness? Give me a female protagonist who sticks to her guns! These ones I read about who give over everything for the kinda right man after a single night of drunken sex annoy the crap out of me. What is with all the books that portray alpha males determined to lord it over the woman of their supposed dreams. Wouldn't an alpha male prefer an alpha female? One willing to fight for herself rather than always getting in to trouble that requires rescue at every turn? Pah!

Another thing that really annoys me is how Sesshoumaru is always portrayed as gods gift to women, that everyone would forgive him anything if only he would kindly rut everything that moves until it couldn't walk any more. Or just stand in one spot looking pretty. AS nice as the fantasy is, I very much doubt that the male who would jump on the chance for an occasional liaison would make a good life partner. He would need to do some growing first, and there's one singular vent where our great silver god is still lacking...but you'll read about that later. Sesshoumaru certainly hears about it!

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**In The Details**

Four days later, Kagome was just about done with this insanity. True, she had been the one to start this little arrangement of theirs. It was also true that she had treasured every wild romp despite the serious to mild injuries she had sustained during each instance of their coming together. But Kagome had not been after a permanent relationship.

She may have, in her more wistful moments, pretended there was more to their dealings than she'd ever intended there to be, but she had never desired any relationship with Sesshoumaru beyond the sexual.

When Kagome had decided to approach the silver inu about engaging in a sexual liaison, she had only done so because she had believed he was the only semi-trustworthy male of her acquaintance who wouldn't automatically assume that sex equated with a relationship. She'd figured he would come, take his pleasure – possibly seeing to hers in the same moment – then leave her to her slightly unfulfilling life of hardship and drudgery. She had really rather preferred he do so.

Now, he was asking for more than she was willing to give because he had failed to meet her expectations. Sesshoumaru's refusal to accept that she could _choose_ _not_ to want him only confirmed more firmly to her mind that she certainly did not want to mate him. She didn't care about mating season nor the fact that he wasn't being completely truthful with her.

Kagome didn't doubt that youkai canine females released pheromones at this time every six years. And she fully believed that the sexual frenzy was just as violent and relentless as the Western Lord claimed. What she didn't believe was that every bitch went into heat at the exact same time like clockwork – if the clock in question ran on a six year cycle. The shikon no miko may not know youkai physiology as intimately as Sesshoumaru, but she knew nature.

Nature would insure that at least a few of the younger, weaker females and males would see it through the season. The best way to do that was to set them off early. From Sesshouaru's explanation she knew that weaker males could not control which females they went for at the first iota of female readiness in the air. Conversely she believed that self-control was the mark of maturer, more powerful youkai. Therefore, the weak females would start to perfume the air with their personal call to mate earlier than the majority of the breed. This in turn would increase their likelihood of catching a male closer to their age and power, increasing the odds of survival and successful procreation.

Knowing this, Kagome surmised that just because the older males didn't succumb instantly to the less potent scent of fertility, didn't mean they remained completely unaffected.

Just watching Sesshoumaru's behavior since his declaration had confirmed that for her.

Their days spent in travel found Kagome unwillingly clasped in the demons claws, straddling his hips with her arms clutching his shoulders uncomfortably. The plates of armor didn't make it any easier for her to grip on securely, but she refused to even suggest he remove them. The temptation the position provided for the lusty demon would only drive Sesshoumaru to return her suggestion with added innuendo and an offer to remove everything preventing him from slipping inside of her during the day.

As it was, she could already see him debating whether or not to wear the lower plate that covered his groin every morning. Sesshoumaru's long contemplative stare at his personal protective equipment would almost be flattering, if Kagome had actually been receptive to the type of activities he was planning to follow the decision to leave them off.

Kagome gave up arguing her ability to walk after the subject was countered with silence and pointed movements to lift her into the position of his choosing. In other words, there was no argument.

AS if the travel arrangements weren't annoying enough, every evening when they stopped just before sun down, Kagome would get her few brief moments to herself. Only, her short respite from the overbearing inu's constant watch had to be hurried with the efforts of building a fire and tending to her minor body needs because Sesshoumaru always returned before dark laden with some large animal he had prepared to shove down her throat.

It was all she could do that first night to get him to allow her to cook it first. Sesshoumaru was clearly running on instinct and much as she was against catering to his sudden need to treat her as an intended mate for any reason, she wasn't so stupid as to turn away free meat that was being all but hand fed to her. Or more to the point, every time she opened her mouth to protest found the threat of another piece of food shoved inside it like she was some infant who couldn't eat on her own.

Then, once the sun set completely and darkness flooded the landscape, the great Sesshoumaru proceeded in attempts to seduce her into a more eager to mate frame of mind. Kagome wanted to scoff. Sex, despite how gentle he was being for the first time in their escapades, wasn't everything. She could live without it as she'd done for decades before they'd started up.

Tonight was different though. Kagome could sense the presence of a couple youkai within range of her scent fifteen minutes after Sesshoumaru left for his hunt. Normally Kagome wouldn't worry about it. Her usual measures of security were enough that even this close most youkai would never detect her presence. But Sesshoumaru's continued company had prevented the use of one of her more effective protective measures.

Since Sesshoumaru insisted he hadn't officially called an end to their arrangement and Kagome had yet to put her foot down hard enough to end it herself, she followed the original rules of the agreement. Which meant she was exposed in the middle of the forest during mating season for half the indigenous high level youkai on the island of Honshu with two approaching males – or so she assumed by their sudden bee-line in her direction upon catching her scent – determined to impregnate her as thoroughly, violently and quickly as possible whilst preventing the other male achieving the same thing.

Considering Kagome couldn't sense Sesshoumaru anywhere in her immediate vicinity and the unknown youkai were almost close enough to pounce, she couldn't see how she could prevent an altercation.

She was tempted to sigh. Never before had mating season of any breed of youkai been a problem for Kagome. Six years ago, Kagome had made this trip under scent barrier with nary a problem. Twelve years ago, Shippou was with her making this trip for the third time. And eighteen years ago, well it didn't signify beyond the simple fact that Inuyasha was an ass even when he wasn't suffering under misplaced guilt.

For once, it wouldn't be the human males trying to crawl under her skin.

Kagome worked at building up the fire as high and as quickly as possible. There was no use worrying about the incoming youkai before she could see them. During the hunt for Naraku she had grown quite proficient with her combative abilities. She could fry any youkai that came her way short range, long range didn't really matter, but she had to be able to see them.

Kagome could take out a whole slew of youkai with her eyes closed, the problem was that she couldn't be selective when she did. She could aim to take out her two attackers and wind up hitting Sesshoumaru whether she intended to or not. Though at this point she wouldn't be terribly upset if she did hit the overbearing pain in the ass.

The miko briskly snapped a stick to throw on her swiftly growing conflagration. A sudden howl in the deepening twilight caused her to jump.

It was one thing to know danger was coming, it was something else entirely to hear it. And still Sesshoumaru wasn't anywhere near present. A fact that some isolated part of her brain noticed was incredibly odd, the inu lord never wasted a moment of darkness with anything but getting physically intimate with her body. She also noticed in this detached little compartment of her head that it was odd for a youkai to howl _before_ pouncing. The howling usually accompanied the actual movement which meant that she should have been on the ground by the time she heard it.

It was a truth she'd learned over the course of her years hunting down the shikon no kakera. Only the extremely young, desperate, and soon to be dead by starving and stupidity gave away their position that way before securing their target. Kagome and her shard hunting group had seen to that a few times in their great hey day.

The second male – or maybe it was the first – slammed her into the ground knocking the air out of her lungs and a solid moment of sense from her head. The impact stunned her more than that first night Sesshoumaru had pounced on her and fucked her raw and bruised. A sharp pain in her thigh brought her back to the reality of a large, heavy breathing male creature trying to remove her hakama by raking his claws through her hide. Years ago, in her now seemingly far distant youth, Kagome would have screamed at the pain burning up her leg. Experience had taught her to save her breath and her attention for more important things, like planning how to get out of this situation alive.

A wide range of experiences had taught Kagome how to think quickly under pressure, forming plans and taking action before consciously making the decisions to do so. Even so, she might not have successfully fended off the assaulting male if not for the timely, or untimely, arrival of the other male determined to acquire the pleasure of getting exclusive rights to any possible future offspring to be conceived during the season. The distraction of an encroaching male bought her the extra moment she needed to access a suitable amount of her reiki.

Which proved unnecessary as an even bigger, more powerful, roaring male came on the scene and dispatched both of the others with undue violence and a modicum of gore. The very audible sound of one neck breaking made Kagome sick.

Over the course of time from her fifteenth birthday to now, Kagome had been subjected to the sights, sounds, and smells associated with a wide variety of injuries, but the one that always made her the sickest was the crunch of youkai vertebrae giving up their inherent function. It was worse than similar injury to a human body because youkai bones were made of sterner, stronger stuff. It took a lot of force and just the right amount of leverage to break a youkai neck, and the sound never failed to turn her stomach.

So it was no surprise that when her would-be youkai mate turned to her with a look she well knew was associated with rage over somebody playing with his property without his express authorization, Kagome snapped. It was one thing for him to punish her for breaking her word in such a way that encroaches upon his time and fun, it was another entirely for him to think he could punish her for something that was more than partially his own fault.

Buzzed as she was on adrenaline, several days worth of annoyance, and the unruly sparking of her gathered reiki, the outcome was actually foregone. Kagome blasted Sesshoumaru back before he could initiate the pounce she could see coming. She wasn't interested in feeling pain right now and there was no way she was in the mood for anything intimate after baring audible witness to the deaths of two youkai out to rape her to death. It was about time she showed him that no one owned her, not even the great Western Lord himself.

Kagome's attack caught him by surprise and before he could more than snarl at her after regaining his feet, she'd erected a barrier around the fire, Sesshoumaru, one of her deceased but still corporeal attackers, and a small chunk of the demolished forest in the direction of the other. Snarl and growl as he would, the miko continued to pack up her barely unpacked supplies and march off on her way without one look back.

Kagome knew her route well and could easily find her way in the dark, so she didn't bother to stop until she reached a small pond she was familiar with to clean her new wounds and tighten the wrap on her sore ankle. She took her time now that all of her original defensive measures were in place.

Kagome was just as determined to reach her destination in short order as she had been four days ago. Traveling with Sesshoumaru had sped up her efforts, the miko would admit that, but she wasn't going to let that convince her to slow down any. Those four days had cut down her travel time by half, but she still wasn't there and back yet.

Besides only a crazy miko would stay in the vicinity of Sesshoumaru when he was angry and at the ends of his patience. Especially, after instigating some of that ire through her own actions.

Kagome wasn't sorry she'd boxed him up like a wild animal, but neither was she stupid. When Kagome wandered out of range of the barrier and Sesshoumaru found his escape, well it would really suck to be in close proximity. Not that being out of range would protect her much either.

With a firm shake of her head, Kagome marched sedately on, feeling her way tenderly along the uneven ground. It would really suck to wrench her already sore leg and foot. Such would completely arrest her progress and she wouldn't stand for it.

Kagome put up with a lot of crap all through the rest of the year, but this trip was the only thing that kept her sane through everything. This trip was her allotted time to get away from the village and vent her upset and anger over the injustices of her life.

Sesshoumaru may think her life was sub par and less than she deserved, but it was her life. He was never invited to fix it or make it what he thought it should be. It was overbearing and presumptuous of him to assume he knew what she wanted from her life. While his offer certainly sounded nice, there was no way it would turn out that way, reality seldom was as nice as the story sounded. With a selfish youkai like him orchestrating things there was no doubt in her mind the presumed fairytale ending he offered would be more depressing than her life was now.

Now she expected things to be and stay rotten. She expected to be ignored and neglected by all she came in contact with. Things were expected of a mate that she was certain wouldn't be forthcoming if the position were filled by a youkai like Sesshoumaru.

Sometime around dawn, Kagome paused for a drink of water and to rest her weary, shaking limbs for a moment, releasing the extra barrier that was now nearing the far extremes of her senses and rebuilding it carefully around herself.

It finally occurred to her that she had missed out on eating anything since the hurried lunch on leftovers from Sesshoumaru's previous hunt. It wasn't terribly surprising that she'd forgotten given that her day was normally only broken up twice for eating on a good day.

The inu youkai was spoiling her. Soon she'd begin to think she needed to eat more often. Oh Kagome knew that technically her home time had scientifically proven the human body needed to eat more often, but she lived in a more practical desperate state of hunger. If she ate in the way urged by a time far distant, she would likely be seen a glutton and proved so by her soon nonexistent supplies.

Fortunately, Sesshoumaru's prideful need to hunt more than she could eat came in handy in that she had more than enough for breakfast and possibly even dinner too. The miko knew it wasn't healthy to eat only meat, but she also knew that a body ate what was available when it was available or she starved.

Her hunger quickly assuaged, Kagome resumed her forward motion ignoring the fatigue that threatened to warp her gait and blur her perceptions. She didn't have time to waste on anything so unimportant. She had a duty to fulfill as even an unwanted village miko always did. She had a kitsune's confidence to uphold, and she'd do it until her body gave out. She would rest when she was dead. She also had a pissed off inu youkai as hot on her trail as could be at nearly half a day out, not that she believed it would take him that long to reach her, but it would take a few hours. It wasn't like he could track her scent after all.

Kagome had spent years perfecting the ability to hide from the casual observer. She could be just on the other side of a tree from most people and, unless they were specifically searching for her, they would never know she was there. Sesshoumaru was looking for her specifically. There was no doubt in her mind. But like all of her detractors and assaulters, Kagome wouldn't waste her time worrying about something that hadn't poked up its ugly head yet. She couldn't do anything about Sesshoumaru until he was within sight, then she had every intention of giving him what for. He wanted to turn their arrangement into a real relationship, Kagome was going to give him a dose of just what that would mean with her. That is, if she ever lost her mind enough to allow any such thing to happen.

Kagome didn't bother to plan out what she was going to say, premeditated anger just wasn't her style. So when Sesshoumaru, red-eyed and steaming did catch up with her, she didn't blast him at first sight.

"Miko," his voice was rough with the growing urge to lose control. "You break faith with me."

Kagome snorted, "My word was contingent upon the existence of our arrangement. The arrangement ended four days ago by your own words, therefore I break faith with no one."

"The arrangement has not ended-"

"The hell it hasn't!" she rebuffed him without bothering to pause or turn. "The arrangement as established in no way allowed for the development of a relationship or the continuation for one once established. I asked for physical pleasure and nothing more. You even insisted in plain terms that there could be no relationship. It was just sex. A clashing of two bodies. There was no meeting of minds, hearts or souls. I shared no affection with you because I know you are incapable of upholding your end of a healthy long term relationship of any type through observation of the relationships you have already had."

"What would you know of this Sesshoumaru's-"

"Inuyasha, despite your disapproval of the subject is your blood kin which by definition makes him your family. You cannot possibly try to convince me that putting your hand through his stomach was in any way the sign of a healthy family relationship."

"The whelp is hanyou," Sesshoumaru dismissed her concern shortly.

"As would be this Kagome's children in the event that she should take on a youkai for a mate and allow herself to bare that youkai children regardless of who the youkai winds up being." No matter how Sesshoumaru attempted to word it, Kagome spoke fact. The union between a youkai and a human, which is exactly what she was regardless of having miko powers, would result in hanyou. Simple genetics and breeding. "Why would I desire to introduce an innocent life to the kind of violence and abuse you've delivered on your own brother?" These were valid points to bring up since he had threatened her with children.

"They would be mine," he growled. Sesshoumaru didn't share and would never need to treat his off spring the way that he did the dishonorable whelp.

This time, Kagome did stop to give him a skeptical glare. "Fine then, lets delve into your ability to relate to children in your care then shall we? Did you know that Rin spent the first six months after you dropped her into our care sleeping out under the Goshinboku? We didn't know why she was so reluctant to believe that you had left her with us on purpose until Kaede was forced to have Inuyasha carry the child in after finding her feverish and developing a terrible case of pneumonia. During her delirium we learned that a certain guardian of hers had neglected to explain that she was with us to learn and had not been abandoned as her most constant companion continually threatened. When she finally kicked her illness, she just wasn't the same anymore because she undoubtedly believed that your continued absence was confirmation that she had in someway angered you, disappointed you and otherwise embarrassed you enough for you to get rid of her."

"That is not -"

"Not what you intended?" She interrupted him again, secure in the extra barrier keeping him from hurting her directly. "What you intended didn't matter to Rin who wasn't made privy to your intentions. All that little girl knew was that you weren't around anymore. And when you finally made an appearance, when you finally came to check on her progress, you broke her heart even further by failing to even speak with her, encourage her, or explain to her any of your reasoning. She was a child who looked to you to care for her and you neglected her until it was far too late to do her any good. Then you rebuffed what she had become as direct result of your neglect." Kagome glared at him heatedly the way she'd always wanted to while Rin was younger, when doing so would have done her any good. "I mean, how often did you bother to check on her. Once a year? Once every few years? Maybe it escaped your notice but children grow too fast for that to have been sufficient."

"I have duties," he gruffly tried to defend his actions.

"Duties that only interfered with your ability to look after a little girl after the defeat of Naraku," Kagome replied flatly, not believing for a second that his schedule was so full as all that. "Somehow I doubt your peacetime duties took up more of your time than they did during the search for that spider. Not with my more recent experience of how capable you are of shuffling your duties around to pursue your pleasures as you have been in the past year. Once every two months is certainly more often than once a year, and a few hours is certainly better than no time at all."

The inu lord simply stared at the miko as she pointedly turned and continued on her way. There simply was no way to argue with the proof of the last year in that respect. As she'd pointed out, he'd had time to wander the countryside in pursuit of the dark hanyou before his defeat and he'd certainly managed to seek out Kagome more than once in the past few moons. "Those are merely two relationships miko, how can you base your decision to refuse this Sesshoumaru on simply two-"

Kagome snorted rudely. "I have two more if you want to go there. There is your relationship with your loyal retainer, which is also abusive given that he does not disobey your orders despite his distaste for some of the tasks you've set him. He works tirelessly to see to your needs and you repay his efforts with physical abuse he has not earned. He may be decidedly annoying at times and incredibly grating to the nerves, but throwing things at him or walking over him is not called for."

"Jaken is-"

"Your employee, your retainer and your most faithful supporter. And he also fears your abandonment as much as Rin ever did despite having served you far longer than I or Rin has ever known you."

"That is simply his nature, miko." Sesshoumaru declared dismissively.

Kagome rounded on him so sharply she almost wrenched her badly abused ankle. "Even if I was not witness to such glaring proof of your inability to conduct a healthy relationship, you have continued to prove in the days since your foolhardy and unwelcome demand for our mating that you do not see me in the way I would desire my partner, someone I will be stuck in close relation to for the rest of my life, to view me. As such, you remain unacceptable for the position were I ever open to such a proposition."

"Explain."

"You do not want to mate with my entire species so there is no reason to call me Human, unless we are all interchangeable. You do not desire to mate just any woman, so stop addressing me by the same term applied to my entire gender. If you want just any miko, then go harass another one. My name is Kagome, and I am the only one there is. I am not an object you can own or a pet you can keep." She turned away all but dismissing him as her movements turned fast and jerky. "I belong to myself and up until now I allowed you to partake of my body because it was my choice. You do not have the right to punish me for my behavior whatever the situation and the one time you got away with it was because I acknowledged your right to your anger," she called back to him over her shoulder. "Regardless of all this, I decided years ago that I would never subject another innocent to the burden of the Shikon no tama and its associated dangers. No other child or unknowing male will suffer the pain of being near it."

"Why has the jewel not been disposed of already?"

The miko scoffed as she continued pointedly on her way, "There is no way to completely dispose of it, for there are no wishes that are completely pure and unselfish. Were I to wish for something for somebody else, I would benefit by making them happy which is what I obviously wanted. Were I to wish for something to benefit an enemy to my detriment, I would still receive the boon of having my duty removed from me. A wish by definition is something that the wisher wants, whether for themselves or someone else. In the end, all that can be done is to keep it pure and arrange for the jewel to burn with me when I'm gone."

"Hn," Sesshoumaru acknowledged the puzzle presented before him pensively, his ire diffused by her serious consideration of his intent. She still had not acquiesced to the inevitable end that they would mate, but she had proven to have looked at every angle, assessing everything a female should when pondering something as serious as breeding. She looked to his ability to care for and raise healthy pups with her, knowing his prejudices and his past relations with other children, blood kin, and hanyou. She was the female, it was her job to ascertain his worth as a male to sire her children. Though her chosen issues were not ones generally a concern for youkai females, they were valid all the same. It was his job to correct and remove each that stood in his way, starting with the Shikon no tama.


	12. Ch12 The Root of All Evil

Seriously Sesshoumaru. Think before you act and accept that Kagome's been watching you for a long time. Hmm, that sentiment is wrong. She hasn't actively been watching, but she has observed him during fights and battles, else she wouldn't have been able to form a valid opinion of his character. Wouldn't be able to tell if he was honorable, cruel, just, or incredibly stoic. If she hadn't been able to make such a judgment the request would never have been made. It likely also would have had her perfectly content to jump in a mating with him.

He's got some learning to do.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**The Root of All Evil**

Sesshoumaru paced behind the limping miko cause of all his current mental upheaval. He had originally thought the miko had rejected his proposal without giving it real thought, like a knee jerk reaction she had developed after receiving so many unpalatable offers over the years. He was in his prime, an extraordinary specimen of youkai masculinity and power. More than that, he was a cardinal lord in a position of wealth and honor. There was simply no feasible possibility that a female in her right mind wouldn't see him as a prime candidate for mating, or even just to breed with. Or so he'd thought.

Sesshoumaru realized, after Kagome's outburst the day before, he seemingly hadn't thought hard enough about his proposal before deciding to move ahead with it. He hadn't considered the reality that the offspring he intended to create with his chosen female would be hanyou beyond the fact that it didn't bother him. He wanted to breed with her therefore anything she produced was worthy of his seed. He certainly hadn't bothered to wonder if the female he desired to sire those hanyou on, the same one who had witnessed his many negative interactions with his _hanyou_ brother, would use that knowledge to refuse him. He should have.

The pups, once birthed could hardly be expected to withstand the type of violence Kagome had seen Sesshoumaru deliver unto Inuyasha time and time again. It was within the bounds of nature for a female to consider a partner's prior behaviors as a way of predicting his future ones.

The concerns the miko had expressed had proven she wasn't interested in expending the precious energy required to birth and raise pups who weren't healthy in every way. And Kagome would insist on emotional health as well as the physical. Sesshoumaru couldn't fault her for it, nor was he terribly surprised by her objections when he took the time to think on it.

He hadn't previously comprehended that she would expect him to take active part in raising those part youkai progeny. Most males of his station didn't bother to do more than make an appearance now and then to make his influence known. Kagome, apparently, expected more. It surprised Sesshoumaru more than was reasonable for a youkai so well known for his ability to ponder things from every angle. Because no matter how enduring and lasting the shikon no miko seemed, as she'd pointed out, she was still human and would die long before those pups he desired of her would be old enough to no longer need such nurturing care.

As much as the example reflected badly on his part, Kagome's only knowledge of his parenting skills were those imparted to, or rather withheld from, Rin. Even if he tried to avoid the stigma of being perceived as her father figure by declaring her simply his ward, Sesshoumaru had been the one responsible for seeing that the child receive what she needed to continue her healthy development. Obviously that meant he should have done more than shove her off on other people without communicating to the girl his intent in doing so.

Golden eyes watched as the weary miko paused to lean against a convenient tree. She was tiring. The barrier she'd erected to keep him physically away from her had been steadily shrinking since yesterday. Granted it was a slow process, but Sesshoumaru was patient. Despite the increasing potency of pheromones in the air and the complete lack of Kagome's scent, he wasn't even tempted to go hunting elsewhere. He'd made his choice, and while most inu weren't particularly prone to monogamy, Sesshoumaru would stick to Kagome.

Besides, the inu youkai had never been tempted to breed with any of his other liaisons, which was directly linked to the instinctive drives that ruled such decisions. Not that instinct was his first and last rule for making the decision to mate any female permanently. Any fertile female could and would incite his instinct to procreate and as such his instincts were usually held as insufficient judge under the influence of pheromones. The thing was, Kagome tempted him to breed outside of the season, even when she herself wasn't fertile.

Part of it was, of course, the undeniable proof of Kagome's formidable strength. True, as a human she was inherently fragile, but despite that, she always survived. Perhaps it was her strength of character that drew him, as proven by his increased attraction experienced under the brief and vocal hints of defiance glimpsed sporadically in the time since their arrangement first began. She'd learned to curb much of her more obnoxious character traits and seemed to accept a bit too much abuse for his taste, but she wasn't a doormat and she wasn't a pushover. It had stunned him to learn, he liked that spirit in her even when she'd directed it at him.

Then there was her power. It was no secret that youkai were drawn to and respected power. Power the little discarded miko had in spades. The greatest proof of Kagome's unmatchable, immeasurable reiki was found during the episode of her last illness where she had been conversely at her weakest physically. It took great effort to maintain a scent barrier while asleep, even more to do so while ill, but she had done it. Furthermore, the shikon no miko maintained a second barrier at all times around the shikon burden that should have drawn evil towards it like flies to honey. Even as she'd wilted then, at the hands of the fever and exhaustion, it had remained in place hiding the tama's power and call so thoroughly that now, when he consciously knew it was there, Sesshoumaru could not sense it.

These were defensive powers she kept in place always, and a lesser miko would have suffered more under the strain and been unable to use reiki for anything else. Yet Kagome had managed to purify two youkai using just her arrows on the road a mere handful of days ago and had not seemed the worse for wear afterward. Any other priestess of the time would have been useless for hours if not days after such expenditure, but Kagome marched onward her only concession to her frail body being, not to weakness, but to injury.

Even now, Kagome maintained a third, even stronger barrier than the two previously mentioned. The very one that was currently keeping him away from her skin.

Amber eyes watched unblinkingly as the miko's steps faltered, stumbling with her growing weariness. The miko paused again to regain her balance before resuming her forward motion and Sesshoumaru growled. Despite the supposed roadblocks the miko had erected between her body and himself, and even their mating, his instinctive demands remained the same. The miko needed to take better care of herself.

Since he had caught up with her after that little stunt she'd pulled the day before, the miko had pushed herself onward without stopping for sufficient rest or nourishment. Nor had she seen properly to the wound she had received at the claws of her attackers, well other attackers. Sesshoumaru had been on the verge of attacking her himself after dispatching the competition. It wasn't unheard of for an inu bitch to accept into her body any male available regardless of who laid claim to her. His instincts had been drawn to the surface by the threat to his female and reacted accordingly by annihilating the threat.

When he'd turned to assess the damage done to Kagome, the wounds she had sustained triggered the instinctive response to reenforce his claim. The placement of her wounds were too close to penetration for her to go without punishment for allowing another male so close to obtaining and defiling what was his. He would have left her bloody and exhausted and quite possibly damaged. Probably more so than previously done since, now that Sesshoumaru thought about it, he could smell her nausea over the attack on her person and the deaths committed too close for her human comfort.

Kagome wouldn't have been receptive even if he had been more likely to act in the same vein as all the previous nights, because she was human. Sesshoumaru had been unable to tone down his instincts enough to remember that until she'd explicitly pointed it out.

It wasn't something he liked to think about, and really it didn't matter that much. Or rather it hadn't, but as the miko had pointed out, a permanent mating required different qualities than a simple rut. Where before if she were disgusted or exhausted or indisposed, the arrangement as it had stood was such that it wouldn't have mattered (much), she had given him leave to use her.

A permanent mating could alter the situation so that she, Kagome, could make demands on a level near if not equal to his own and he had not offered that. He had offered to provide for her, as if she were a pet, setting her up in his controlled little play room for his convenience. Had he not been paying any attention when she'd detailed what was wrong with Shin's offer to her all those moons back? The miko clearly expected a partner in mating, a companion to share all burdens and joys with, one of mutual respect. She would not settle for less than her due. That is _if_ she were amenable to a mating of any kind with the shikon around her neck.

As with all the miko's expressed concerns, addressing any of them without first removing that cursed jewel from the picture would prove unproductive. Sesshoumaru was convinced he could handle the raised questions about his ability to nurture pups and his prejudices towards Inuyasha. It had been years since he had taken more than minor potshots at his half-brother and he could certainly convince the miko that he could learn parenting from her. Only a fool would contest the miko's amazing talent for nurturing young lives. Her young kit had turned out well despite his exposure to Inuyasha, the perverted monk, and the various other horrors the jewel quest had exposed him to. It was part of the reason he'd desired to leave Rin in the same village as Kagome. He'd hoped the child would benefit from the older female's penchant to mother everyone.

Granted, that plan had ultimately backfired some, to Rin _and_ Kagome's detriment. Hopefully, he could leave out that part, no need to rehash something the miko already knew and lived with.

A fine misting rain filtered through the trees. It was too light to create puddles, or even stir up some mud this deep in the wilderness, but it was heavy enough to slick down every possible surface as the miko demonstrated when her foot slipped on an exposed root and fell to her knees. The tearing sound of her hakama and the hissing inhalation of a slight pain set the big inu to growling again. "Drop the barrier miko," Sesshoumaru demanded. He wanted to scent her to assess the damage, but more than that he wanted to tend her wounds.

The male who had attacked her before this had blooded his female, it was Sesshoumaru's right and duty to see it properly attended to. Instead he'd been forced to watch her bleed through whatever she'd used as a bandage and through the damaged cloth of her hakama. It was frustrating in the extreme.

"Why won't you just go away?" the miko grumbled as she struggled to regain her footing.

It occurred to Sesshoumaru that the current situation was similar to another involving this same miko he'd borne witness to on prior occasions. The youkai lord quickly sifted through his recent memories while Kagome managed to get to her feet only to stumble into a tree and hit the ground again. Her determined struggle to resume travel slowly recalled a picture of a sick miko driven to constant motion in front of...Inuyasha's harassment.

Sesshoumaru wanted to close his eyes on the obvious similarities between the two events because he had always believed that the half breed was and always had been less than he. To compare their behaviors and the affects of each on the same miko was distasteful. But not wrong, for Kagome's reactions were the same regardless of title, species or creed provided one wasn't out killing for no reason. Senseless killing would forever anger the miko.

But in this, Sesshoumaru was the same as Inuyasha in that, both tried to goad the miko into doing something she had vociferously refused to do. Inuyasha had long been prone to doing so, even back before he wrongly blamed the miko for the death of an already dead woman. Now Sesshoumaru was trying to push Kagome into a mating against her own wishes, proving that he did not believe she was capable of forming her own opinions. Another reason she probably refused his suit.

Not that he would let it bother him or prevent him from achieving the mating he wanted right now, regardless of what she thought, he simply couldn't see his life without her in it anymore. Given his inability to share, Sesshoumaru sought to insure that he wouldn't have to by mating the female, permanency gave him a say in the number of partners the miko could have. Some youkai were willing to occasionally share. Some were fine with exhibitionism, showing off their prowess by rutting their mate before witnesses. Outside of the rutting season, Sesshoumaru wasn't the type for either and inside of it, his tolerance for such was extremely low when it came to this particular female.

"Miko, This Sesshoumaru's decision was made and it is final. There is no way I will leave you vulnerable at this time," he growled, his displeasure growing more difficult to contain at the realization of how he compared to the younger son of the great and terrible Taishou. "Drop your barrier and allow this Sesshoumaru to tend your wounds."

Kagome had the gall to snort at him. "I don't want you to do anything but go away!" She was tired and frustrated and Sesshoumaru was interfering with the only time she took all year for herself.

"Hn, that may well be," Sesshoumaru allowed. "However, what you want and what will happen are not often the same.."

With a growl of her own, Kagome wrenched herself up from the ground and turned on him, eyes flashing. "I know that! I've always known that! Surely the great and terrible Sesshoumaru-sama is not so unobservant as to fail to notice that this lowly human miko has experienced it enough to be practically a poster child for that damn sentiment! The question is, Oh great demon lord, can you take and accept your own words apply to yourself?"

"Miko-"

"You want me to be grateful and accept that you have deigned to offer lowly insignificant little me, your consideration. You want me to acknowledge what you have offered as the good deed you feel certain it is. It never occurred to you that what you thought I wanted, without speaking to or asking me, is not in actuality what I want. You want me to want you. Well, I don't!"

"Drop your barrier miko or this Sesshoumaru will wait until it falls to tend you," he refused to consider her words, aware that she had pointed out something else that was similar between himself and the last inu to court her. "If this Sesshoumaru is forced to wait, however, you will most likely be unable to walk afterward."

Kagome glared at him blankly, "As if you let me walk before," she pointed out with a huff.

"Indeed. You may find that there is a difference between not being allowed to walk and being unable to walk, little miko," he smirked and she rolled her eyes before turning back towards her still unknown destination. "Either possibility appeals to this Sesshoumaru."

"Well neither appeals to me," Kagome grumbled while decidedly ignoring the trailing inu. She had certainly grown rather mouthy since ending their arrangement. Sesshoumaru found that despite his previous belief to the contrary, her impertinence aroused him more than her near silent disapproval of before.

He remembered the way she was before Naraku's demise and her brief, if taciturn, return to her previous personality appealed more than he'd thought possible. When she was grumbling and annoyed and frustrated, she wasn't so weary of life. She was living again. Her eyes lit up with challenge, fairly glowing in the natural light. Kagome was here, living in the now, with him and this pleased him more than forcing her pleasure ever had.

"You're such a..." she allowed the epithet to go unsaid. This wasn't Inuyasha who hadn't let her get away with such things in years anyway. Sesshoumaru almost wished she'd gone ahead and said it. The way she trailed off pretty much terminated their exchange with no real option to pick it back up or continue it. Then the miko shivered in the damp.

"Miko," the inu youkai growled imperiously, "There is a hot spring near here. You will go make use of it before you become ill again."

"Sorry if this weak human's immune system just isn't up to your exacting standards, but I don't have time to take an unscheduled bath even if I was crazy enough to discard my common sense and take one," she refused his suggestion stoutly, even if it really hadn't been a request. "Only a woman with a death wish would go bathing in strange onsens at this particular time as I understand certain youkai males are high on pheromones and desperate for a body to sate themselves on. Getting naked would be a stupid thing to do. In any case, bathing this time of year without sufficient supplies is asking for serious illness."

"This Sesshoumaru will protect his claim!" he declared firmly. "What supplies could you possibly need for a bath beyond the hot water?"

"Dry clothing as the set I'm wearing is already damp as you have noted. Drying cloths to remove water from my person before donning the dry clothing lest it prove a wasted effort. A place to be where I and my new set of clothing will remain dry and warm until my hair dries and my body has readjusted to the external temperature outside the water itself which means I would probably need a fire as well. All of which would take more time than I'm willing to devote to it right now." Kagome attempted to keep moving forward, re-enforcing in Sesshoumaru's mind the similarities between this situation and that of her last sickness.

"This Sesshoumaru will supply your needs," he insisted, determined to prevent her from taking ill at practically any cost. "I really must insist, miko."

"Yeah, well this KAGOME willfully ignores your insistence," she sniffed, also ignoring the moisture weighing down her hair enough that it clung uncomfortably to her skin and curled more noticeably around the ends. "I've been living a long time as a lowly human creature. I am more than capable of deciding what my weaker body is capable of withstanding, probably better than even you. So you'll forgive me if I trust my judgment over yours."

"It is instinctive for inu to provide for the needs of a claimed female," Sesshoumaru conceded to explain. "As such I will hunt for you while you take a warming bath before you take ill. I will find you the necessary shelter and cloths and keep you from infection for even at this time you are in desperate need of care. Malnourishment has robbed you of much, such that you are ill equipped to conceive and carry offspring this Sesshoumaru is driven to sire on you. Accept it woman, for there is no other recourse for you."

Kagome grumbled, unwilling to give up the argument. She shivered again and accepted the inevitable with a petulant sigh. Despite what common sense dictated, the situation demanded she get warm and dry quickly. Her ability to fight off disease was already compromised by malnutrition as she already knew, but also by injury and exhaustion. She didn't have enough reiki left available to fight off an infection should she catch something. "Fine!" she huffed as she changed direction.

Kagome well knew where the hot spring was given her familiarity with the path she traveled. She hadn't actually stopped to use it in years, given the season and the lack of company to stand guard. Well, that and the sorely lamented end of her last fluffy towel. It really was unwise to bathe this time of year without something just like it to wrap up in for warmth.

Just because she had conceded to taking a bath did not mean she was letting this whole mating thing go. She still had absolutely no intention of putting up with the stupid youkai lord as he intended regardless of what his instinct demanded. Sesshoumaru was of a higher breed of youkai and had always looked down on those incapable of acting outside the instincts conceived at birth.

Kagome wasn't about to let him get away with claiming instinct as his drive for very long after the years of watching him snub every other youkai of their mutual acquaintance. She may be merely human, but her memory was longer than she believed her would-be mate seemed to realize. She'd seen him criticize and put down and snub more good-natured – if quirky – youkai over the years for failing to fight their instincts in any given situation. No way was she going to allow him to play it both ways. His instinct was no stronger or weaker than that of any other youkai because instinct was based on breed, learned and taught responses, and environment rather than physical or spiritual strength or power. She didn't need to be a youkai expert to know that much. Instinct didn't just switch on because you were willing to let it. It was always there, typed into the genetic code and built into society.

Kagome growled to herself as the sulfuric scent of the onsen reached her on the moisture heavy air. She still hadn't let down her guard, keeping the lusty inu off her skin was definitely a priority so long as he insisted on this travesty of reality. With a disgruntled huff, the traveling miko tossed down her roll of belongings along the rocks protecting the natural tub. Her sharp eyes cut at the inu youkai nuisance, "I thought you were leaving."

"Perhaps you needed aid-" Sesshoumaru began, his even voice failing to convey the slight hope she would let him.

"I'm a big girl and have long been able to bathe myself without help," she cut him off shortly. "You were leaving."

"I will return miko," he was sure to inform her.

"Threaten me some more, why don't you..." she grumbled as her hands worked to remove her haori, revealing her mildly transparent juban.

Sesshoumaru might have intended to respond to her petulance, but the miko abruptly shoved outward with her physical barrier catching him completely by surprise. "I'm a long ways off from being too exhausted to keep you out, Sesshoumaru," she taunted him pointedly as he walked out of sight. Kagome refused to strip down further than her juban, which was certainly exposed enough given the thin white material's reaction to moisture. Silently she mourned the death of her swimsuit some years prior before determinedly shoving the topic from her mind. All of her treasures from home were finding their slow demise, no matter how hard she tried to prevent it. Even her old uniform was developing new holes despite keeping it safely tucked away from the elements and various insects. Other little mementos of home were succumbing to time, proof that Kagome was getting older, but also proof that home was getting farther away.

Kagome forcibly shook her thoughts away from the subject and quickly went through the motions of getting clean. She didn't need Sesshoumaru to find her some soap given that she was a miko and knowledgeable about herbs, she always carried around the necessities for killing germs and removing dirt. It was a practice she'd shared with Kaede and once Kagome's way home had been effectively removed from her hands, the old miko had taught the younger everything she needed to maintain that practice. The only time she let it slip was on this trip.

Kagome hurried through her bath, refusing to stay long enough to turn pruny regardless of how inviting the water was. She had every intention of getting herself to shelter long before the overbearing inu could return from hunting down the meat he felt instinctively driven to provide. He also meant to find her somewhere safe for after her bath as she'd declared was needed. The thing was, Kagome knew where to find shelter. This was a regular trip and the path – though being cut through the new growth of the year – was well known to her. She'd known about the onsen from previous years. So it wasn't surprising that she would also know about the cave not five minutes walk from the warm pool of water.

Carefully, trying to keep from further dampening her outer garments and searching for dead fall on the way, Kagome hobbled towards the small dusty cave. Sweeping the interior with all of her senses to insure nothing had moved in since her last visit, she marched inside and worked to set her clothing out to dry before dropping her bed roll in a separate area to keep it from further moisture. Efficiently she swept back out into the open to gather slightly dampened wood for a fire before hurrying back inside her shelter. The fire was short work for a miko so used to travel and using such primitive means for warmth.

As soon as the blaze met her satisfaction, Kagome quickly stripped out of her last garment, setting it to dry as close to the flames as she dared and wrapped herself hurriedly in the remaining blankets of her bedroll before the worst of the shivers set in. Smug over this proof of her self-sufficiency, the miko settled in to stir the flames and snuggle into her threadbare wrap.


	13. Ch13 Great Plans

Sesshoumaru's tenacity may well get him into trouble. That is, if you don't already count annoying the crap out of Kagome trouble enough. You know, if he ever does manage to convince Kagome to go for this mating bit, he'd be in even more trouble...Maybe. Heh, If.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Great Plans**

When Sesshoumaru returned to the onsen with his hunt and other prizes, he wasn't particularly surprised to find his miko missing. Kagome was more versed in the needs of her human body than he was and while he'd had every intention of providing everything she'd listed as needed, she was well within rights to do it for herself if she was able. A youkai bitch would do it as a form of reproach, of descrying his worthiness as a mate. She'd had a need he hadn't met.

Lessor males might be greatly affected by such proof of their failings. Sesshoumaru declared it part of a learning curve. The miko wasn't even the same species after all, there were definitely going to be times when she could better provide for her needs given her greater knowledge on the human condition. He would learn it all, then he would become faster than even the miko herself could be. Accepting this, Sesshoumaru's snarl of frustration wasn't that the miko was gone, or even that he had not been fast enough to provide for all her needs, rather he was annoyed that he would have to track the miko down.

It wasn't completely impossible, as he'd proven twice in their dealings already, but it was more of a challenge than he really wanted at this time. Any youkai on the verge of mating season would find such a challenge vexing in the extreme. Lucky for him, the task was made easier by the sudden smell of woodsmoke.

There were no villages nearby, and the chances of some other human roaming these woods was slim, therefore it had to be the miko's efforts to keep warm as no youkai out of his first pelt would need such. And no youkai would reach this season without being at least that old...unless he were hanyou.

Had Kagome been a typical human with their near constant ability to breed, she might already have been pupped and saved him half the trouble he was going through now. Sesshoumaru would still be driven to rut as the pheromones would still affect him, but the chances that he would harm the miko during the act were a great deal lower if she already had a pup on the way. In all likelihood, he still would have insisted on a permanent mating eventually, this situation just brought it to that point faster. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted Kagome and her pleasures all to himself.

What had taken Kagome only five mere minutes to traverse, took Sesshoumaru all of two given the near fit he'd had at the spring. The cave was hard to miss as the flames lit the mouth with an orange glow that contrasted brightly against the constant gray gloom. The glow stood like a beacon calling him home to warmth and Kagome. It wasn't true of course, Sesshoumaru conceded. The miko had used the cave for necessary shelter and built the fire to keep from catching ill, and not for his consideration regardless of the timing as well he knew.

She was a stubborn independent creature but her unruly, mulishness had been tempered by the necessities learned over the course of the last sum of years. She ate of what he provided, not because she accepted him or his effort to prove his worth as a possible mate, but because the meat was there and obviously it wasn't often. She was intractable, but not so foolish as to turn her nose up at food when it was available. It was a testament to just how often she had starved since the demise of Naraku, a witness that whispered a tale of hardship in his ear that further solidified his drive to mate her and keep her and take over her care.

Kagome was right in that she had survived on her own since her ejection from Inuyasha's grace and protection. If she hadn't she would not now be alive for Sesshoumaru to mate. That she had suffered so spoke more of Sesshoumaru's neglect than Inuyasha's own. When the younger inu had willfully refused to uphold his duty to the little miko who was already installed as pack to both brothers, it should have fallen to the elder to take her on. His ignorance of the situation spoke again of the neglect his future mate had already spoken of. He _should have_ been aware of the change without needing to be told. The break was obvious to anyone with eyes to see let alone a nose as keen as his own.

Even with visits as short as his had been, he should have been able to pick up on the constant absence of the little miko from the village. In a village she'd have no need to hide her scent as constantly as she did on her own in the wilderness. Sesshoumaru should have been observant enough to make the connections. If he had, the little miko may not have suffered such hardship that would lead her to start this insane association in such a way, or at the very least, he might have helped her with her burdens or found another solution to her problems. The big inu had certainly encountered a number of orphans through the course of his duties. He could have supplied her with someone to care for and nurture when her need for such first grew unwieldy.

He could have installed her in a new village years ago when her chosen one first refused to keep her as they should. Just as Sesshoumaru intended to do after the season of rut passed him. He could have kept her from suffering for as long as she had. Her health would have never had the chance to deteriorate so far and his Rin would naturally have been moved with the miko thus saving the younger human from the fate she now found herself in.

Truly, the miko had not been willful in her rejection of him.

Sesshoumaru snarled mentally at the fact. He didn't care that he had formerly been less than he should as an alpha. He was now aware of the areas in which he most needed work and with the miko Kagome as his mate he would never be allowed to forget it as he trusted her to vocalize his deficiencies honestly. He could put up with her tendency toward excessive volume while doing it.

Sesshoumaru stealthily approached the flickering light. He was unaware of how large the cavelet was and therefore uncertain as to whether the miko's third barrier would allow him to enter it despite his offerings of clothing and meat. There was something about this trip that was lending the miko's behavior towards the more mulish side of her character. What he had viewed of her the previous winter and since the start of their arrangement had lead him to believe she had grown more tractable with the onset of years.

Sesshoumaru was nearing the mouth of the little miko's makeshift dwelling before he realized the third barrier was not in place at all. The little miko had dozed off due to her exhaustion. Despite her ability to keep up the scent barrier and the shield over the Jewel of four souls in her sleep, the third had apparently not been installed as such.

Kagome nodded before the meager fire wrapped in her threadbare excuse for blankets, shivering from time to time in the draft drifting in from the open cave mouth. One loose hand unconsciously clutched at a long charred stick clearly used to stir and stoke the fire before she had succumbed to physical weariness. It was the first thing to be removed after Sesshoumaru carefully set his kill to roast over the flames.

Gently arranging the female's limbs into a more comfortable position for slumber and examination, the possessive inu slowly pealed the clutched blankets apart and unwrapped the miko. When she threatened to rouse at the increased exposure he pressed his fur over her exposed and checked torso. Despite the blatantly obvious wound on her thigh where her attacker had sunk claws in amidst efforts to reach his target, Sesshoumaru thoroughly swept the miko's body for further damage before directing his attention to the seeping ruptured skin.

It was disconcerting to watch the miko's blood flow from the stripes carved into her leg without the metallic scent of it clouding up his senses. Sesshoumaru didn't like it. As a youkai blood and the shedding of it could have several different meanings. The consumption of it could be sensual or triumphal. It held pride of place in a number of rites of passage common to many species of youkai. A lot could be told about a person from their blood.

Being inu, he could normally tell even more, but with the scent blocked from her person it was almost as if the red on her skin were simply a strange scentless dye, without substance or meaning. He couldn't conclusively figure out why the shallow wounds were still seeping after such a lapse of time. The miko probably dismissed the anomalous reality as a direct result of her continued effort to get away from him. Although such behavior actually would irritate healing wounds placed where these were, it should not have completely prevented the natural clotting attempts her body should have made. If he could scent it, Sesshoumaru might have been able to identify what was truly interfering with her healing processes.

As it was, despite knowing consciously that he truly could not catch the miko's scent, the inu bent to make the attempt anyway. Naturally her scent was not forthcoming, the miko's powers of defense had long been perfected out of a desperate need for self-preservation. Whatever else could be said about the female, she was thorough when she went about fulfilling a need once identified. The first pass of his tongue over the long lines gouged into her hip collected a smudge of the crimson substance, pulling it away from her skin and still her scent failed to waft up to his sensitive nose. He'd felt certain that once removed from her person and the likely range of her scent barrier, Sesshoumaru would have been able to detect all the personal markers such a substance would carry. That he couldn't whispered of how effective the miko's efforts to hide her presence in the world actually were.

Dismissing the thought as unimportant, Sesshoumaru diligently applied his tongue over the wound only pausing when the miko stirred restlessly in her exhaustion induced slumber. Each clawed stripe received his potent and full attention individually, leaving everything else beyond Kagome's occasional movement outside the scope of notice. So while his left hand remained firmly clamped around the miko's knee keeping her injured thigh in place for his questing tongue, the movements of his right failed to register until his striped cheek bumped against it on the last, and highest gouge.

It was only surprising given that his hand had originally been pressed down over her upper hip for the same reason as the one latched onto Kagome's knee. Some time during his administrations to her torn flesh his claws had migrated from that mostly innocent placement to delving into the miko's hidden valley. Half her squirming now was directly related to what he was absently doing there without his conscious knowledge.

Sesshoumaru nearly smirked at the thought when he realized it.

"You really are a dog," the female's irate voice growled over him. "And I don't mean that in a complimentary way! There are so many disgusting names for you and your behavior right now I don't know where to start blasting you, you bastard! Molesting me in my sleep-"

"This Sesshoumaru has done so before, miko," he interrupted her though even he knew that this was different.

"You had permission before," Kagome growled. "You don't anymore!"

"This Sesshoumaru has not ended the agreement-"

"This Kagome has! Did you not think that I had equal right to do so given that this is _my body_ you're playing with?" her tone was bombastic and emotions were high. The taiyoukai was willing to overlook it as he understood human emotions ran wild under stress especially when coupled with acute physical exhaustion.

"It matters not, as you are this Sesshoumaru's future mate, and-"

"It's still rape if you don't have my express permission, chauvinistic pig!"

"This Sesshoumaru is an inu youkai," he replied blandly.

"Who is still molesting me against my will!" the miko shot back. It was true. He never had removed the hand that was buried as deep as his outstretched claws could go, toying with her nerves and otherwise attempting to seduce a pleasing physical reaction from the hot-tempered miko. He was tempted to drop the argument and just apply his tongue to the tender flesh as a reward to himself for putting up with her de-scented blood. The miko had never failed to enjoy that.

"You asked this Sesshoumaru to rape you," he pointed out.

"No, I asked you to make it _look_ like rape, there is a difference, now get off me!" despite the imperious quality of her demand, Sesshoumaru tightened his grip around the miko and settled more firmly against her. He hadn't forgotten how far she had kept him from her skin, skin that was his to play with and enjoy. There was no way he was giving her an opening to do that again. Right now, with where he was and the hold he had on her, if Kagome attempted to raise that barrier that had kept him off her earlier, to shove him away as she had at the onsen, he would take pieces of her with him.

His shimmering gold eyes gazed up the length of her fur covered body as she glared down at him from where she'd propped herself up on an elbow before making a decision. Pointedly, Sesshoumaru's mouth descended to its mark and went to work. Kagome growled above him and her whole body began to glow with reiki burning him wherever skin touched skin. "You once more prove to me why I will not subject myself to mating with you!" Kagome scowled down at him where he refused to let go though he did move away from her core.

Sesshoumaru studied her as he realized the impasse they had arrived at. He could not enjoy her delights while she was lit up like a dancing flame but he refused to let go. The miko may have been physically exhausted, but spiritually she seemed inexhaustible. What had the kami been thinking to place such a large, ancient, powerful soul in such a physically limiting body? Deciding to ease up on continuing to butt heads with the miko directly, he chose to come at her sideways and backed off her until he could wrap an iron grip around her ankle and reach the meat roasting over the fire she'd built.

Great endless spirit or not, the miko needed to eat and she would not deny him right to feed her. She was hardly healthier in appearance despite his efforts to correct the problem. "Eat, miko," He carefully held out the spit for her to take from him. He'd rather feed her in more erotic ways, but the miko had become rather prickly since he'd proposed mating.

Still glowering at him, Kagome pushed herself upright with one hand firmly placed to keep the fur from sliding down and exposing her chest to him. Sesshoumaru wanted to scoff given that he had seen all and even placed a number of the marks decorating her pale skin, but he had just been molesting the miko against her will and much as he would have enjoyed the sight, she was righteously mad at him. Even he would admit he'd crossed the line.

Given that sitting where he was placed his back to the cave mouth, Sesshoumaru swiftly turned to place his back against a cave wall with the miko's captured foot draped over his lap.

Sesshoumaru took the time to study the dainty appendage within his grasp finding Kagome's poignant glare less than entertaining. He'd never noticed that human toes had rather weak and pointless claws on them. The youkai version took great effort to maintain during grooming because they were so resistant to damage, but once properly filed and smoothed it took a long time for them to require such care be taken again. Human claws on hands and feet were brittle, capable of breaking during everyday activities and manual work. He'd seen Rin cry when one of her finger nails had torn while she traveled with him as a child, but he'd never studied her close enough to notice her feet had claws too.

Curiosity over came his reticence and his free hand came up to poke at the fleshy little calloused toes, marveling at their size and movement as the caught limb flinched and curled and flexed in effort to get away from his prodding. "You know that's attached," Kagome grumbled as she blew over the meat.

"Indeed miko," Sesshoumaru replied absently unconcerned about her complaints at present. He hadn't drawn blood or applied enough pressure to cause bruising. He pointedly dragged a rough, strong claw over the pad of her largest toe.

"Would you stop that!" the miko's toes curled reflexively in attempt to protect herself. The action was also accompanied by a sudden jerking back on her leg that could have dislodged the grasp of a less wary youkai. As it was, Sesshoumaru was forced to tighten his grip on her ankle enough to leave marks on her skin just to keep hold of her. Her hiss of pain was hard to miss. "If you mess up my other ankle I'll do more than singe you a little," the female warned him through gritted teeth.

Sesshoumaru had no doubt that she'd do it too. Kagome's patience was wearing thin with this situation and while he was certain she could do nothing that would completely over power him or even do him serious irreparable harm he was also certain the miko had grown enough tactical understanding as to know just where to hit him as to make him extremely uncomfortable for a long time. Right now, despite his implacable grip, she was the one allowing him to explore his idle curiosity. If he caused her pain after being granted such generosity there was no doubt such would be unlikely to happen _willingly _in the future. There was certainly more of the miko's body to be explored even if he couldn't think of anything specific at the moment. Or rather nothing he hadn't already explored often and with great pleasure. His eyes hooded subtly at the thought of his miko's much enjoyed delights.

Sesshoumaru took great care to keep the turn of his thoughts from the miko given the proximity of her foot to a very sensitive organ on his body. True he still wore his armor and the little female could hardly gain much effective leverage, but leverage and armor wouldn't matter if she chose to light up with her reiki again. He'd never been in a position where purification to that particular part of him had been at risk and while the possibility wouldn't cause him to remove her foot from his lap, it would convince him to lay off pursuing action that would cause the miko to desire taking that specific reaction.

Besides, even his instinctive driven urge to plunder the female before him took second when she was obviously this physically exhausted. A fine tremor racked through her limbs despite the warmth of his fur and the fire dancing so close beside her. Tiny bumps marched over her usually smooth skin as an added reminder of her human susceptibility to fluctuating temperatures. Night was closing in and the damp that had settled into the area certainly didn't make it feel warmer.

A swift flick of his eyes up from the tiny foot in his lap allowed a better assessment of the little fire-spitting miko. The shaking in her limbs was most likely a combination of fatigue and chill, he decided. And the food she rapidly took in despite indications that it was a bit too heated for comfortable consumption would only go so far to restore her physical resources, the miko needed rest to reestablish mental and emotional equilibrium.

Hnn, but first...

With deliberate motions, Sesshoumaru carefully switched his grip on her foot from one hand to the other before carefully rooting out the cloth package he'd secured beneath his armor. The miko's own clothes would require time to dry, time in which she would be exposed and at risk of catching a chill. Sesshoumaru wouldn't stand for it. He'd tended the miko during an illness once already. She wouldn't survive a rut even if he mated her if she were already ill. Such weakness would effect her stamina more than her prolonged lack of proper nutrition.

The bundle found rest beside him as he snipped the string holding it closed with his claws. Swiftly sorting through the various pieces until he found what he was looking for. Pulling the gray fabric out and gently threading it over the delicate naked foot in his grasp.

"What are you doing?" the miko asked incredulously as he supposed she might. He'd never bothered to try and clothe her. Even in her sickness he'd spent most of his time insuring that she was naked and stayed that way in his presence. Kagome scrunched her toes at the feel of the slightly heavy material. Her overly worn tabi socks had never felt so soft.

"Dry clothing, miko," he answered as he handed her a warmer, finer juban than she'd most likely ever had. It was the first time Sesshoumaru had bothered to supply underclothes as well as outerwear.

She did not drop the fur to don it and at this point Sesshoumaru could find it in him to be grateful for it. Much as he was instinctively driven to see to her needs, such a temptation could distract him from doing so to her detriment. "You expressed a need you could not fulfill." He handed her a gray haori embellished with red petals down one side. It was all but an exact copy of the first silk outfit he'd given her only the winter, warmer garment was this gray in place of the purer white. Sesshoumaru had decided white was an impractical color for a miko to wear when choosing these garments. It was also an impractical color for human travel. Besides, Gray soaked up more heat than white did. The hakama were of a heavier more durable quality than the previous garments also, designed for warmth and wear. The petal design spilled down one leg of the split skirt in gray to mirror the upper article of clothing.

She blinked at him when he handed her another garment to be worn, for there was no need for it at the moment and no way for her to keep it without raising suspicion in her village. It was a fur lined cloak, sable and soft and ever so much richer than anything she could possibly pass off as her own even before her life fell to pieces. Even so, Kagome took it from him, fingering the soft silky fur with a dreamy sigh as he slipped on the other tabi sock. "Sesshoumaru-sama, I can't keep this," she shook herself from the mere idea of it. "How would I ever explain such a thing?" Her kit certainly could never afford to gift her with such and Sesshoumaru himself was long beyond the window of being able to call it payment for looking after Rin.

"When this Sesshoumaru places you in your new post you will not have to explain it," he declared absently, removing the plates of his armor to increase comfort and possible closeness with his miko. He couldn't truly feel her through the bone metal and Sesshoumaru was aware she found close contact with it uncomfortable.

"I can't leave my village indefinitely," Kagome protested.

"It is hardly your village miko. They tolerate you at best, why do you refuse to consider removing yourself? You deserve better treatment for your services."

"The well is there."

"And it is closed, miko. Staying only serves to torment you with this truth," he pointed out as he drew both her feet into his lap. In a way he felt he was keeping her from running from him, from escaping the conversation. This was one point on which her objections had been insufficient for him to seek an adequate solution.

"It is as close as I'll ever be to my family," she insisted morosely. After all, there was no possible way for her to live the five hundred years necessary to see them again.

"Have you no memories of this family? Do you not carry them with you everywhere?"

Kagome sighed wearily, truly warm for the first time in many winters. It was hardly surprising a youkai who wandered without regard to sentimentality or emotional attachment to specific individuals would fail to allow her this point. Besides, he was right in a way. Kagome had wandered the countryside before, secure in the love and regard of her family.

"Rin is pregnant," she finally admitted, there could be no arguing the need for the miko to stay close for this. "It is her first and the first is always difficult," was added unnecessarily as even Sesshoumaru knew that there was no possible way for a human female to have conceived and birthed a babe in the short time since her nuptials. "She may not treat me well and she may not think she needs my help, Sesshoumaru-sama, but she will receive it. I can't leave her to face it alone and few in the village will offer her comfort or advice because she was your ward. I know you don't care, but I do. I can't not. She is still Rin, somewhere buried under all that unhappiness and hurt is the little girl who used to beg to play with Shippou and drown Inuyasha in flowers." A wet sheen developed over the miko's face as tears fell, further proof that the miko's scent barrier remained in place and her emotions danced out of her control.

Sesshoumaru rubbed thoughtfully at the arches of her feet through the cloth keeping them warm. This news explained much given his knowledge of the miko's character. He could accept her desire to be there for an inexperienced expectant mother even if it weren't Rin. It was a miko's duty and probably Kagome's most bittersweet joy helping to usher new life into the world. "This Sesshoumaru is willing to put off moving you until you have fulfilled this last duty if you wish it. Do not forget that you yourself will be baring your own then as well and it would not do you good to remain in such a hostile environment."

Kagome was too tired to roll her eyes and too close to sleep to offer real protest. But she did manage to snort in a derisively skeptical sort of way before succumbing to the realm of dreams, absently determined to continue where they left off upon waking.

Sesshoumaru allowed his amused smirk to show on his features at the sleepy sound. The subject was closed. She would probably attempt to resurrect it in the future, but would be perfectly unsuccessful. He had gained the knowledge he needed to know in order to act. There was no need to discuss it further.

Carefully, he drew the miko further into his lap so that his body cradled more than just her feet and she leeched warmth from more than just the flames dancing beside them. Outside the wind began to pick up, blowing away the damp mist that had driven miko and youkai to the cave in the first place. The temperature dropped further and the unconscious miko was glad of all the warmth she was unknowingly granted. Sesshoumaru just held her closer and watched the light flicker and dance over her dark hair.


	14. Ch14 Journey's End

Ah Kagome, how willful art though? Honestly, Sesshoumaru is trying to compromise. He views this as an on-going negotiation, one that Kagome isn't cooperating with. The one thing he won't give up is the desired result. He will adapt to meet her demands as soon as she divulges all of them or when they become apparent. He cares...sort of. He's still new to this obvious affection and partnership thing, but that's something that everybody has to learn. It isn't as if most of the mass media advertises the coming together of equals.

Disney perpetuated the eternal damsel in distress practically forever. Then, when they made an effort to change, one or the other of the partners still had to give over absolutely everything they are to be with the one they love. The little mermaid gave up the sea, her family, and her voice just for a chance with her prince. In the princess and the frog, prince charming gives over everything he is and has ever known to open the restaurant of her dreams. In Tangled, Rapunzel becomes princess and Flynn gives up the freedom of his life (granted he was a thief) to live within the strictures of a court (a nice one, sure, but every court has its restrictions). We always try to brush it off as someone's life being better off for the change, after all, Cinderella wound up a princess, but her life became far more complicated in ways that all royalty must put up with. Alladin risks everything for the girl he met once, failing to think of just how he would pull off being a royal and ruling a country as he would some day have to.

Some people would point to Mulan as there was no vertical class movement, but there was also no doubt that her traditional soldier husband expected her to stop practicing all of the skills that she had worked so hard to learn upon marriage. And that's just the Disney portrayal.

Some people want love that way. I don't. I don't want to change someone's life and I don't want anyone to change mine. That's too much pressure. I don't need a partner to do all the things I want to in life. But, if a partner happens to appear, I want someone whose life will dovetail with mine. Someone who has goals that aren't necessarily the same as mine, but won't exclude the possibility of companionship on the journey to achieving it. I can be supportive when it's needed and I want them to support me when I need it, but I don't want to be desperately needed because they can't take care of themselves and I don't want someone to feel that way about me. I'm an adult, independent and capable. I expect the same of anyone I would enter a relationship with. But I'm apparently in the minority.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**Journey's End**

Kagome awoke at the same time as any other morning. Two hours after dawn was actually a more relaxed time than had been allowed during her questing days and had been established as the only way to insure a certain hanyou didn't catch her sleeping. Her days were much worse whenever he did. It was self preservation or rather the preservation of her sanity that had so deeply instilled this habitual waking so close to dawn.

She was lucky, she supposed. The other villagers generally rose with the sun during the summer months mostly to squeeze in as much work in the rice paddies as possible before sunset made it impossible. As such, there was little chance that the villagers themselves would seek out a miko before much later.

Inuyasha's troublesome visits generally occurred even too early for the villagers to ever need her.

In the early days immediately after the fall of Naraku he'd come around more often and stayed a lot longer. The onset of years had taught Kagome all she needed to know to make his visits pass swiftly and smoothly. So long as the uncouth half-ling never laid hands on her, Kagome could generally handle it. And strangely enough, Inuyasha never did lay a hand on her. At least not yet.

It was slightly disconcerting to rouse herself while clasped warmly in the arms of another body. It didn't matter if that body was Sesshoumaru, the last person to be able to cradle her bodily had been her parents and it had been a slightly different form of affection. Inuyasha didn't count. That...that BOY was too confused to give affection to anyone enough that it felt truly secured, he couldn't even support the illusion of it. Kagome had suffered more than enough bruises to prove it.

She didn't feel Sesshoumaru's affection, because she truly didn't want to and she definitely believed he didn't know how to show such if he felt it anymore than Inuyasha did. But she certainly felt secure there. Sesshoumaru wouldn't second guess himself to the point where he would toss her to the ground as soon as she awoke.

It took some maneuvering to free herself from the iron grasp of Sesshoumaru's grip, but she needed to pack up her impromptu camp, bank the fire and get on the road-or rather the nonexistent path. The great inu wasn't unconscious by any means nor was he lost to his instinctive drives either. He was just reluctant to let go.

Eventually he loosened his grip before Kagome had to resort to zapping him to force the issue. Sesshoumaru needed to don the plates of his armor, the season made it foolish to go without. It was an impossible task if he refused to let her go.

As it was, donning armor wasn't something that could be done in an instant, even a youkai had to take some time to insure that each plate was adjusted just so and strapped securely into the appropriate place. It was time Kagome spent packing up what little there was to pack and dampening the fire.

Sesshoumaru barely finished before the little miko attempted to escape the cavelet and get on her way. With probably more insistence that could be considered necessary, he shoved a spit of meat in her hand. He had been aware of her impending awakening and had prepared accordingly. The food was just finished warming by the time the miko had doused the flames.

Sesshoumaru smirked at the huff she gave after accepting the stick. He found her exasperation in the face of his efforts to feed her amusing. Deny him all she would, the miko was accepting his offers of food. This minor if reluctant acquiescence to his instinctive need to provide for her satisfied him enough to leave him feeling smugly indulgent. It hadn't meant as much before her itemizing his failings as alpha and mate material. Now it meant so much to him that he generously allowed the miko to continue traveling under her own power. The fact that the little miko very likely would have lit up like a bonfire had he tried to continue on as they had before that night days previous had nothing to do with the decision at all.

Besides, watching Kagome walk before him was a pastime he was quickly growing fond of. Covered from neck to toe in the fine materials he'd provided, the miko's gentle motions were attention grabbing regardless of how her trappings cloaked a number of her finer attributes. It occurred to Sesshoumaru that this might even be the reason her former monk companion was always seen towards the rear of the traveling group.

The miko's pace was steady and brisk, a good traveling clip for a human. She obviously had every intention of reaching her destination in good time. So when she came to an abrupt halt around mid morning, Sesshoumaru was surprised. The stick long since stripped of its bounty was flung from her fingers as she turned to address the inu youkai pointedly. "If you promise to be respectful, I will invite you to join me," she informed him.

Sesshoumaru blinked at her declaration. Surely she was aware that he would attend to her whether she invited him or not.

At his silence the miko growled softly to herself before spinning once more on her heel and moving forward. A rather sharp incline took the miko up from where he stood until rather suddenly she dropped out of sight upon reaching the crest of it. Slightly alarmed, Sesshoumaru swiftly swept up to the hilltop only to find that it wasn't a hill at all. Instead the inu lord found himself perched on the rim of a crater the miko had already achieved the center of.

Three curious towers of rock stood at the epicenter which were clearly the miko's target. This was obviously what Kagome came to find every year. As he watched, the female bent purposely to unearth something from the still vibrant green grass. It was the first splash of true color they had seen in days proving that the sunken center had provided sufficient shelter and possibly even moisture during the dry months to keep the plants there healthy.

Just as Kagome managed to resurrect the shukujou from the plants that had over taken it, Kirara fell out of the sky to land beside the memorial stones. "You're just in time Kirara," Kagome acknowledged the firecat mildly as she continued working various leaves out from between the rings on Miroku's old staff. Carefully, she dug the deposit of seasons passing from the tallest stack of stones fused lovingly together by the fires of two youkai and one miko. Kagome wasn't sure if the pile would have held together without Shippou and Kirara's efforts to help that first year when they came to remember their fallen comrades.

When she was satisfied she returned her attention to the staff she'd kept securely in one hand. She carefully arranged the rings so that there was the proper number on either side of the pole they hung over. The last one settled into place with a soft chime that Kagome always took as a sign from the fallen monk.

It was as she set the staff to lean in its place that Kirara snarled angrily at the youkai observing from the rim. The glare the battles-sized fire cat sent at Kagome had the miko bristling in righteous anger. "Don't look at me like that!" she glowered at the feline "I didn't invite him here, he followed me. I may not have lashed out at anyone when he died, but I loved Miroku too. I miss him just as much! If you want him gone, you get rid of him, but don't expect me to help you! I'm not suicidal yet!"

Kirara gave her a measuring look before turning once again to the intruding youkai before seeming to dismiss his presence and accept Kagome's words with a shrug that turned her back to the smaller form the cat favored when not in combat. "Come on Kirara, you can help me with Kohaku's. You loved him better than I did," the miko added and the two set to work on the next and shortest stone tower set in what Sesshoumaru now recognized as the sight of the final battle.

If the towers were meant to represent those who fell and the first two were for the monk and the slayer boy, then the third had to belong to the twice dead miko. It was surprising to him that Kagome would honor Kikyou given that he knew the two were often pitted against one another by and for the half breed. But there the tower stood and Sesshoumaru could not deny it as the miko ousted a miko's bow from the flotsam of a full turning of seasons to rest against the last marker as she had each of the weapons before that.

"All right, Kirara. Let's do this," Kagome spoke to the little cat before assuming a stance of respectful prayer. The Firecat hung off her shoulder and achieved a pose that could reasonably be considered similar to the miko. Both stayed silent and still remembering their dead and honoring their memory for what seemed an eternity to the impatiently curious inu youkai watching from slightly inside the grassy ring. The sides were steepest towards the edge, and the vibrant greenery didn't start until significantly deep into the crater. Neither mourner paid him any mind.

This was why the miko had demanded he be respectful. This was why she offered invitation in exchange. Without her invitation he was trespassing on a shrine ground that was sacred to the miko and her comrades both deceased, living and estranged. This yearly pilgrimage was a form of release for the miko and he'd interrupted and interfered.

"All right Kirara," Kagome clapped her hands at the end of her prayer. "You better get going before Sango starts to miss you." The fire cat nuzzled the miko affectionately before leaping to the ground and resuming her more dangerous form. Quizzically the cat paused to shoot a look between her friend and the stoic male that had encroached a bit further on their privacy, worry evident in the gesture and stance the feline assumed. "Don't worry, Kirara," Kagome assured her former ally. "I'll be fine, and I won't stay much longer. I just want to rest a bit. See you next year."

Kirara shot them both another look before shaking it off and leaping into the sky.

"Could she not have carried you hither and yon, miko?" Sesshoumaru asked the miko after the neko departed.

Kagome turned to glance at him before walking back to the edge of the grassy ring inside the crater to perch upon a broken boulder that had been exposed on the fateful day so many years prior. "Kirara is in a precarious position. Sango is fragile."

"The slayer is a warrior," Sesshoumaru countered from where he stood.

"She is also a woman, a human woman who in a short time lost everything she cared about. When Naraku began using her little deceased brother as a puppet in his plans the only thing that kept her sane was Kirara and Miroku," Kagome explained carefully. "When Miroku fell, there was only Kirara and blaming me for her pain. If Kirara betrayed Sango by siding with me over anything I really think she'd run mad."

"She has a mate," he pointed out as he assumed a seated position not far from the miko's perch.

"You forget, she observed Inuyasha's issues with commitment and fidelity before the defeat of Naraku. He was really bad at hiding it," she muttered and Sesshoumaru conceded that point. It was hard to trust and depend on a male who had already proven faithless. "And she hasn't managed to conceive in all the years since they've been together. She definitely has to be feeling insecure about that too. Especially since I know Inuyasha is beginning to look elsewhere."

"Explain miko," he wanted to know how Kagome who was all but ostracized from the village Inuyasha resided in would know of the hanyou's wandering eyes.

"He approached me last winter after Kaede passed. Inuyasha informed me that given the amount of time that had passed with no sign of conception by Sango that he was within rights to look elsewhere," Kagome answered. She didn't continue and Sesshoumaru didn't need her to. The hanyou would not have informed her of such if he didn't mean for the miko to partake in the half breed's infidelity. "He told me I had a year before his rights set in full. I hoped Sango would conceive. I prayed she would, but I didn't count on it." She sighed.

"You propositioned this Sesshoumaru," he felt like sighing himself.

"As I told you at the time, this isn't the era of one night stands. I figured Inuyasha wouldn't go there if I wasn't untouched any more; it didn't matter who it was. He's weird that way. His clothes and body may be filthy but kami forbid he fuck a woman who'd ever known the touch of another male." Kagome snorted sarcastically, a lot of males were like that. It was fine for a male to know the pleasures of the flesh before committing to matrimony but a woman who did was little more than a whore. It was just one more thing she missed about home.

True she hadn't wanted to die a virgin, and it was also true she relished the physical closeness with another human shaped body, but she'd never wanted to be Inuyasha's plaything. Not after the years of abuse following the years of refusing to chose between her and a dead woman. That ship had sailed years ago, _before_ Naraku had met his demise. But no one could tell Inuyasha that. In a way, Kagome supposed she could only blame herself. She'd been all too willing to overlook and rationalize and forgive when she was younger until the fathead just assumed he could do anything to her.

"You used this Sesshoumaru," the inu growled mildly. It wasn't like Sesshoumaru hadn't been aware of that. She'd certainly left the decision up to him. No point in pretending otherwise. He just hadn't been aware that Inuyasha had also been behind it.

Kagome sighed in response before redirecting her gaze from the endless blue sky to the inu youkai obviously taking offense that her actions were driven by a desire to escape Inuyasha's amorous intentions. "It wasn't a new idea, or even a spur of the moment decision. If I were living back home I would just now be approaching the end of my marriageability. I probably would have gone through a couple of serious relationships which would have included physical intimacy in it. Sexual equality has been well established," she informed him blandly. "Heck, before everything ended, several of my school friends had already experienced intercourse, Sesshoumaru. I never intended to die a virgin. True, Inuyasha spurred me into action, but I was probably going to take this route at some point anyway."

"Sexual equality?" his voice was a hum of curiosity.

She blinked at him, leave it to the inu to latch on that part of the conversation. "Well, in human society nowadays, it's alright for a man to experience carnal pleasure before marriage but a woman found to be less than virginal on her marriage day was labeled with a number of negative terms. In my time, that's changed. After all, who in hell is a man supposed to have those premarital relations with if not a woman?" Kagome posed the question that had never failed to bother her. "The only man I've ever met in this era who realized the flaw in the structure was Miroku."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at her as she turned back to study the rock stacks upon which rested the monk's staff, the slayers chain and scythe and the resurrected and re-terminated miko's bow. "He knew going into that last battle that he wasn't going to live regardless of how things turned out. We didn't tell the others. Inuyasha would have simply blustered about, called the theory stupid and promised the impossible – that everything would work out. And Sango..." Kagome shook her head. "There was no need to tell Shippou, though I did explain it to him years later. I think Kirara knew. She always seemed to know things."

"Miko," Sesshoumaru demanded the return of her attention. Kagome's eyes swept from the stones to him with an absent hum. "What theory?"

She returned her sights to the center of the crater before launching into the reality that she and Miroku had figured out before Naraku had found death. "All objects that exist have mass, substance. No two objects can occupy the same space. For example:," Kagome held up a freshly plucked blade of grass and tried to stick it through her finger. Naturally the less dense and more flexible blade of grass gave way to allow her finger to keep the space. "Miroku's kazaana was in his hand and sucked up a number of objects over the years since he was first inflicted with it in childhood. The void did not lead to anywhere but Miroku's hand."

"It was a void miko," Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"Indeed, Sesshoumaru. But the problem with it was that the longer he had it the greater the threat that it would grow beyond the bounds of his hand to consume him whole. The solution he was presented with was to destroy the power behind its existence, kill Naraku." Sesshoumaru nodded his agreement, it made sense in the way of such things. Kagome went on to disprove it, "The problem arises with what happened to all the stuff that was lost in the void when the void ceased to exist," she declared and the youkai lord paused. "Things can be changed, converted, digested, and moved but they don't just drop out of reality. When the void disappeared -"

"The refuse of past battles would re-manifest at the point of disappearance," Sesshoumaru finished for her.

Kagome nodded sharply, "In Miroku's hand, yes." she gave a sardonic laugh, "Miroku said that the very best case scenario would be that he lost his hand, arm, and half his chest."

"Still he attempted to take out Naraku?" Sesshoumaru barely kept his incredulity from his voice. The human was foolish to seek such a surefire way of shortening his already tiny life span.

The miko scoffed at him. "You'd have done the same thing. He was going to die either way. Going after Naraku put his death on his own terms," Kagome declared with obvious admiration. The sharp scent of salt stung his nose, proof that the miko still mourned. "Miroku lived under a death sentence everyday and still stood up with a sense of humor and moral support for his friends."

Silence fell after that as it became clear that Kagome greatly admired her fallen friend. She was right of course, given similar circumstances, Sesshoumaru would have chosen death on his own terms if life wasn't an option. It also told him something else about the miko he would take as his mate. She admired the monk for living life on his own terms, for seeing beyond the traditions and customs he had been raised on to see the truth of a situation such as the double standard between males and females when it came to sex and marriage. By the same token, her refusal to give over control of her life spoke of just how strongly she desired to emulate this trait.

Most women of the human persuasion born to this era didn't have that option. Sesshoumaru was well aware that many were forced into marriage by the males of their relation. Miko were generally conscripted by other miko and village headmen for the service of the village they were born to. Kagome had been born to a different time and while her options now were limited, she exercised her right to chose as much as possible. Sometimes doing so made her life harder, but they were her choices and it was her life.

Sesshoumaru could respect that...when it didn't interfere with his own plans. The miko's ability to make choices was fine, but her choices were limited by her gender and the perceptions of her village. As his mate, he could give her a wider range of choices, but only if she gave up some others.

There were reasons most females weren't given their choice of mate. In humans it had to do with the fact that most girls wouldn't honestly desire to wed until well past the standard age of marriageability. They were insecure and still developing a personality of their own when they started their menses. Humans put too much stock in emotion, their female's especially. It was wiser for older heads to make the matches. Though, from Kagome's words during their brief alliance years ago, marrying and breeding so young was often the cause of childbirth fatalities, death of babes and mothers.

His ward had been well past such an age. Had Rin been in the care of her original family, chances were she would have been paired off a handful of years after the age at which Sesshoumaru found her. She also was likely to have already died in childbirth. She still could, as the miko had indicated, but the chances were vastly greater that Rin and her babe would survive the hardship of delivery.

Kagome, were she healthier, would also have better chances of the same when he pupped her.

"You honor the slayer," he observed.

"He was a boy," she answered curtly. "Life had barely begun for him before it was over. And then his death pains were prolonged by Naraku's interference and sadism. Kohaku hadn't even wanted to fight. Sango told me years ago that she thought her brother would have been better fit to be a simple farmer with animals to tend or even a weapons maker than a slayer. Not all little boys prefer violence to peace."

"And the miko?"

"Kikyou was my previous incarnation, or so they tell me. To not honor her would be to not honor me." Kagome murmured distractedly. A bird had alighted on the metal ring hovering above the monk's memorial. What the miko wasn't telling him was that in marking and mourning Kikyou's death she was also mourning the loss of her own character and chances for happiness. Perhaps that was not her original intention, back when the markers were first erected after the defeat of Naraku, but that was what it had come to mean.

It was ironic that, in the time she took coming here to mourn the person she used to be and friends she used to have, she resumed the persona she was currently mourning. What was most surprising though, was that Sesshoumaru honestly preferred her this way over the passive thing she presented to the world the rest of the year. Granted, the current version probably wouldn't have invited him to partake of her body the way that the desperate passive one had. The Dichotomy of Kagome was mind boggling and he knew that if he could arrange her life so that the two evened out into a sort of constant middle ground it would be better, healthier for her and probably more fulfilling for him.

"Stupid bird," the miko muttered as the fowl creature took flight and knocked the shukujou from it's proper resting place to the ground.

"Perhaps you should find a better way to secure it in place, miko."

"No. Miroku would prefer his staff be available for the use of some desperate passer by," Kagome disagreed. "Besides, the tools we had available hardly made that possible anyway." She swiftly moved to replace the monk's weapon in its designated place, once again removing debris from the rings and arranging the metal loops in their proper placement.

Sesshoumaru had seen and heard enough to put his plans into motion. Starting with the greatest obstacle. The Jewel.

Kagome had barely managed to rest the wooden pole against the stone before she found herself spun around and her spine attempting to conform to the rigid irregularity of the stacked stones. Before the she could gasp out a proper protest or demand answers, the daiyoukai's claws had already ripped the shikon no tama from its beaded necklace. A powerful flare of his aura broke through the barrier she'd had protecting it, keeping it hidden.

Her sharp gasp could as easily be for the indigo beads that flew willy nilly to the ground around them as it was for the power slapped back into her soul. Sesshoumaru now recognized the power and significance of the beads' color in this new setting. They were from the monk's seal and contained the remnants of a seal powerful enough to contain the Kazaana and reinforced by three generations of power. Kagome would not want to lose that momento anymore than she wanted the shikon to land in the wrong hands.

Luckily, in a few minutes, the bauble would no longer be a problem and the beads could be recollected without issue later. For now...

Sesshoumaru was glad he'd clothed his future mate because it gave him the knowledge of just how to reach his goal in the most efficient manner possible. A quick rearrangement of clothing, too fast for her human senses to follow, one of his clawed hands disappeared beneath her clothing to shove the glass ball deep in the convenient cavity nature had formed between her thighs. Two claws pushed the Shikon no tama deep inside, beyond her ability to remove it on her own, before withdrawing to match the purpose of his other hand over her shoulder.

"What are you doing!" she finally managed to gasp out, her tone equal parts outrage and disbelief.

"This Sesshoumaru has a wish," the large inu replied evenly. Actually he had many desires, but this wish had been worked out so that the cursed jewel would disappear and make all his other wishes possible.


	15. Ch15 A Perfect Wish

Wow, the reactions to the last chapter were awesome. And fast. Never had so many reviews come in so quickly after posting.

I suppose I should have more cliffhangers and scandalous material for you guys.

I do not own: 1) Inuyasha, the characters or world therefrom. Those belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 2) the original idea that spawn this specific plot. That was borrowed from the first chapter of Fortunesque's _Hot Salsa_ found on Dokuga. I asked and received permission to post this from her.

Warnings: Mature content throughout. Possible Trigger content throughout. I warned you!

**A Perfect Wish**

Kagome's mouth opened and closed a few times as she attempted to work out what to say to the great inu that had obviously lost his mind. "Sesshoumaru, What?"

"This Sesshoumaru will not repeat himself," he replied flatly while maintaining the firm pressure over both the miko's shoulder and lower abdomen. His clawed fingers, or rather two of them, remained clamped over the opening in which he had secreted the glass bead. She would have no chance of dislodging the stupid thing in any other way than that of his choice. A wish.

"I-" she began and stopped herself before trying again. "There is no such thing as a selfless wish. The Jewel will never just disappear. To make the attempt is insanity!"

"No indication was made that the wish was intended to be selfless, miko, only that you had to make it on this Sesshoumaru's behalf," he scoffed. She attempted to flare her powers in the manner of the night before and he just dug his claws into her flesh as a response.

"I'm not going to throw away all the years of guarding it just to make a stupid wish that you-"

"Do you not feel it miko?" Sesshoumaru cut her off. He'd manipulated this situation so that the outcome would be as he desired it. "Is not the jewel already trying to merge with you? Can you not sense it dissolving the longer you argue over what will be done?"

He didn't bother to itemize all the evil that would come if the Shikon actually managed to absorb into her flesh. She was far too intimate with the workings and the evils of the cursed tama not to imagine them quite clearly on her own. Kagome had kept the thing in a barrier strong enough to both hide it from youkai senses and block it from touching her skin for too long.

Perhaps at one time the miko and her burden had been able to coexist separate and in harmony as natural as breathing, when it had been hidden under her skin and she unaware of it. That time had long past once it was removed from her person. At that moment, the Shikon gained awareness of its freedom and Kagome began to age past the point where the two were synchronized together.

One or another of the holy people associated with the quest to complete it had to have realized it, else disaster might have struck immediately upon victory.

With where Sesshoumaru had placed the powerful bauble now, there was no knowing how far the contaminant would spread once the shikon had won its new home. Always the jewel desired to spread its influence, not for control or out of a desire to gain more power, but merely to see the destruction such taint wrought. Though the jewel in the hands of the half mad hanyou, Naraku, had always worked blatant evil, it was capable of more subtle manipulations also. And with Kagome, it would have to be subtle.

Perhaps it would merely drive her to seek coition with every male she encountered, forcing her into the role she had so vehemently refused to fill at the start of their strange episodes. Doing so would taint her further, but likely also spread the jewel's malicious influence to every male to come in contact with her secret woman's place.

Kagome was an attractive and powerful female capable of hiding and disguising her scent. There would be many males willing and eager to partake of her body, never realizing the danger. That is, if Sesshoumaru ever let it come to that in the event the miko proved too stubborn to make the wish. Granted his efforts to keep the miko to himself would likely end with him at risk of coming under the jewel's spell, but he had already accepted that risk.

That was only one part of the potential horrors bound to come out of the Shikon jewel and its guardian merging thusly. Sesshoumaru was instinctively driven to impregnate the female currently gaping up at him like a fish stranded out of water. Suppose he were to be successful after the jewel nestled itself permanently in her womb? What sort of evils could be done to a body and mind completely unformed and innocently undeveloped?

Were he the sort to show such things, Sesshoumaru would shudder at the horrific possibilities.

"Start the wish miko," he commanded gruffly. His wish would work. He would force the Shikon no tama out of existence, lifting the burden of it's protection from the miko and eliminating the bulk of her objections to the mating Sesshoumaru was still planning to happen.

Despairing tears leaked from Kagome's shell shocked eyes. Her body burned from contact with the jewel. While she was very capable with her barriers and had grown quite clever with their uses and types, she couldn't form one around something lodged inside her without risk of doing serious damage to herself. Should she damage herself badly enough, she wouldn't be able to hold the barrier and she'd be back where she started with the added bonus of bleeding. Such would naturally weaken her defenses against merging with the occasionally benign glass bead. Benign until given an outlet and the ability to make trouble.

"I wish," she began with a sob, disgusted that her ultimate failure would be witnessed by the comrades who had died to prevent such a travesty from ever taking place. It was Miroku she had first expressed her concerns over the impossibility of a completely selfless wish to. He'd agreed with her assessment. That Sesshoumaru would press her to do it here only increased her shame.

"That the miko Kagome's physical health, longevity, and state of being," Sesshoumaru prompted digging his already pricking claws further into her skin when she failed to immediately start parroting back his words. She stumbled reluctantly over them, her distress tripping up her tongue a little more than her growing misgivings over the direction the youkai lord's wish would take. "Come under the direct conscious dictate and control of the first male to force her body to orgasmic rapture upon the conclusion of this wish."

Kagome froze, stricken at the words that fell from his mouth. It was a complete toss up now as to which would be worse, letting the jewel gain access and minor control of her body or risk letting this complete ass do it.

"You will finish the wish miko. Do not attempt to leave things half done. Fate will rise up to make things worse than if you had never begun the attempt. The Shikon will insure it," he warned her with a snarl. He allowed a touch of his toxins to seep from his claws and into the various minor wounds that dotted her skin in places under her clothes. Sesshoumaru had no doubt of the truth of his words. When messing with things of power it was always best to finish quickly lest others who crave for power be drawn to attempt taking it from you.

Carefully, with words stained with the bitter taste of her distrust over the future likely to come from such a wish, Kagome completed the task he'd set her, already mourning for the life she'd had. Lost because she'd wanted to be touched just once. Because she'd chosen the wrong male to do the touching.

The power that had risen with the first word she'd uttered and held waiting until the wish was fully spoken crashed down on her painfully, infiltrating every pore and cell. Her nerves lit up like flame shooting excruciating pain signals towards her brain so fast her body failed to take in enough air to allow voice to her scream. Almost immediately the little miko began to convulse so forcefully Sesshoumaru barely managed to keep her up right and failed to keep her skull from crashing back into the monk's grave marker more than once.

Two emotionally charged moments later the miko collapsed, unconscious and burning up with fever. Such was strangely anticlimactic.

Sesshoumaru had expected a number of things to happen upon completion of this particular task. The first of which was to force Kagome to orgasm as quickly as possible. She might have been upset over the place, but he only thought it fitting that those who had died in the quest for the shikon witness its final disposition from the world, blocking its evil from ever wreaking such havoc again.

It. _Was_. Gone.

Sesshoumaru could sense that much. The wish, while not selfless on his part had truly been something Kagome herself would never want. She was too desirous of maintaining her independence and individuality to ever want any part of her under the control of another, any other. And while she hadn't wanted the Shikon no tama to absorb into her body, Kagome hadn't wanted it to disappear either.

Observation and increased knowledge of the woman had allowed him to come to that conclusion quite easily. Kagome put a lot of stock in symbolism and surrounded herself with things that meant more than the obvious. Such as the miko's grave, the monk's beads being used on the necklace that held the jewel, and the effort she put into mourning a boy she'd never known or properly met. The jewel had come to be a symbol too. It was proof that all her sacrifices, all the deaths and animosity she had suffered through had been for a purpose, a reason. The absence of that proof would be important to Kagome, possibly leave her in despair if he gave her the time for it.

Which didn't worry Sesshoumaru any. He would give her new reasons to live, starting with mating and pups.

Obviously, Sesshoumaru's original plans would have to wait, there was no way he could force his miko to orgasm while she was still suffering under the jewel's revenge.

A revenge he should have expected to be taken. While the depth of the jewel's awareness had always been ambiguous, anything that was aware of itself even to the smallest degree would understand any attempt at destroying it and do whatever it could to prevent success. That which existed and knew it existed couldn't help but desire continued existence. Such was a basic tenet of life whatever its form.

Naturally the shikon no tama, which had already proven capable of significant defenses, would retaliate or fight against its complete demise using every outlet available to it. Sesshoumaru's wish had left Kagome as the biggest and only avenue left to the vile bauble. No doubt Kagome herself had fought against the invasion of its power, compounding her difficulties and pain.

The big inu released a low puff of air contemplating his next move. The miko was burning up, unconscious, and shivering and his previous experience told him he needed to get her cooled down. The problem arose with the time of year. Water ran colder with the coming winter as snow had already begun to fall in the higher and more northern reaches of the area. If his heated female was exposed to temperatures so greatly different from the one she sported now, he had no doubt she would be affected adversely. Humans were so fragile.

If the wish was in complete effect and Sesshoumaru had laid claim to her physical body already, he could simply order her body to resume better health. Although, he considered the possibility, there was likely to be nuances of his wish that would keep things from being that simple. There was always a trade off, and there was certainly enough evil left in the jewel to somehow twist things around and add unexpected complications.

It would be a learning experience, he supposed. But for now, Sesshoumaru lifted his miko from her slumped position against the monk's monument, thankful to have both limbs available for the task. He was likewise grateful that all of the miko's travel possessions were carefully contained in the bed roll still slung over her body. She'd never put it down despite the added impairment it caused her tasks. It meant he didn't have to worry over retrieving it himself or angering the miko later for leaving it behind. Not that he really had any respect for the articles contained therein.

Sesshoumaru had every intention of replacing all of it whether it got lost or not. The blankets were worthless and threadbare as was the clothing she'd been wearing before he'd supplied better. The trail food she'd packed was inferior to the fresh meat he'd been supplying and could be easily replaced given the time and inclination to do so. Her bow was sub optimal given the wear of many years' use and having not been made of prime materials to begin with. As for the arrows, well, she was always loosing those and very seldom retrieving them so they could definitely be replaced as necessary.

In fact, Sesshoumaru intended to address the issue of her weaponry with Toutousai immediately after the season and the miko's subsequent pregnancy came to successful conclusion. And it would, he always got what he desired. Even if it required a great deal of effort and persuasion on his part.

Persuasion was a perfected art he had mastered many decades ago, though he seldom had cause to use it in his present dealings. In Youkai circles, those who were stronger seldom had to cosset the opinions of those weaker, as weakness was often accompanied by obsequious personalities and youth was joined with inexperience and insecurity. Kagome was neither weak nor insecure and pandered to no one more than survival required.

Such was probably yet another reason her living situation had devolved so far.

Sesshoumaru headed to the onsen Kagome had made use of the evening before. It wasn't a particularly warm spring, but it would be warmer than any river or stream in the area. Such was possibly why she'd been so adamant about needing a fire and change of clothes after using it. It was warmer than the air around them, else it would not have served yesterday's purpose, but right now it was cooler than the miko was herself.

Sesshoumaru carefully stripped his female of the gifts he'd provided her the night before prior to reducing his own clothing down to fundoshi and submerging them both in the spring. He cradled her back against his chest her head tucked into his shoulder while he allowed the rest of her person to float at the whims of the eddying currents in the small pool. The affectionate intimacy of their physical closeness, as new and strange an experience as it was, pleased him. It was an activity he'd had little opportunity to pursue throughout his life.

His sire and dam had not been prone to act affectionate with him and he had not had litter mates to be close with either. There had been no successful attempts to create offspring after his birth until Izayoi conceived Inuyasha. A half-breed son born outside of mating was socially unacceptable by all possible parties involved whether human or youkai. Inuyasha truly was a bastard by birth, though not because Sesshoumaru's Mother was still in the picture. Sumire and InuTaishou had bred together merely to create an heir and cement a peace treaty. She had long before left the great inu general when the lusty male had encountered the human hime. Inuyasha's outcast status was the fault of his father. Hence why Sesshoumaru had never understood why his sire had foolishly given his life to protect a woman he hadn't deemed worthy of mating or honorably keeping.

Sesshoumaru had pursued the Tessaiga due to political pressures rather than any real desire to acquire it for himself. Those political pressures had eased greatly as the boy began to prove his battle prowess through the course of the Shikon quest. They died completely with the eradication of Naraku.

Sesshoumaru shifted the miko gently, his concern growing as she failed to cool to the natural temperatures of the fluid eddying around them. He'd never had to hold her under this long during her illness some moons back. It was just as worrying that Kagome made no move against the water, his positioning of her, or to ease general discomfort. She simply floated as he directed, like a doll, something she had never done even in her sleep. If Kagome felt uncomfortable positioned in some way, there was no forcing it.

His inexperience with the care of sick humans coupled with the increasingly potent scent of pheromones in the air made it rapidly more difficult to think of possible solutions to the situation that didn't involve sex. If Sesshoumaru could just drive Kagome to orgasm, he could fix her current illness with a simple order. He knew the miko could be pressed to the pinnacle of pleasure whilst unconscious, having pushed her to it in the past. He knew she could be forced to it despite being riddled with pain, past encounters had proven that also.

However, each had involved proper penetration, and Sesshoumaru's honor, given the scolding he'd received the night before, could not allow him to pursue coitus without the female's conscious consent. He'd had it during all those previous encounters through the existence of their mutually beneficial arrangement. His demand for more had removed from him the tacit approbation he needed to heal his miko in the only method he could currently think of.

Despite his phenomenal self-control over his actions, his thoughts were often another thing entirely and with the increasing potency of pheromones being drawn into his lungs with every breath, his thoughts were proving more than wayward. It was impossible to find the level of detachment required to think of a non-sexual solution to the problem currently being presented to him. As such, Sesshoumaru's memory kept shuffling through every previous encounter experienced with the miko in the recent months trying to find a way to arouse her and push her to culmination without violating the bonds of his honor.

Eventually he remembered once nearly bringing her to orgasm with mere words, but she had been fully conscious and willing then. In frustrated fit, his youki fluctuated wildly driving off the last of the local wildlife and alerting other males to avoid the area if they wanted to live. Conversely, the angry flares in his aura were likely to draw aroused, heat driven females to his location rather than drive them off. They would die as surely as any male who approached Sesshoumaru right now, but the realization did spark an idea.

The night of his inu fantasy, Kagome had been so aroused when he first showed up that she'd nearly found release from a mere brush of his youki against her before he'd even stepped inside her hut. The ointment he'd provided certainly served as an aphrodisiac at that time and he'd brought it along after realizing she'd left it behind for the possible fun he could have with its application to her skin on the journey she was obviously taking. He'd applied it just before dawn one morning hoping it would drive her to initiate something for him to finish. She'd circumvented his effort by carefully washing it off immediately after sun rise.

Sesshoumaru hadn't attempted to use it since, realizing the futility of the effort. There was no need to use it in the nights he was allowed to taste of her, and the nights since the attack had given him no opportunity to apply it anyway.

But now...

Sesshoumaru shifted the female against his chest to free up one arm and moved closer to the edge where his clothing lay neatly awaiting his exit from the pool of water. Rummaging carefully through the various hidden pockets in his garment, he unearthed the vial from where he'd secreted it and retreated further into the pool.

Sesshoumaru was beginning to notice that the water was being heated from contact with her person rather than having any beneficial effect on Kagome's temperature. She needed to be fixed, sooner rather than later. Heaving her out of the water that hadn't proven to do her any good, he settled the miko gently on the rocky bank, wedging her hips between two smooth medium sized boulders to keep her from moving too much with the passion he was determined to incite. She might bruise and would probably be uncomfortable if she were awake, but if he succeeded in his efforts, he could heal the bruises and there would be no proof of her discomfort. Kagome wasn't likely to awaken any time soon from what he'd observed.

She was exhausting herself trying to fight the invasion and possible mutation within her own body. Kagome needed him to be successful so that he could stop it.

Deft claws flicked open the stopper, releasing the mildly spicy scent of the unguent into the air before he carefully applied a small amount to the soft skin of her inner thigh. It was the closest to her inner sanctum as he was willing to stretch his honor to go. The ointment didn't care where it was placed. All it needed was time to seep into the skin and the life stream underneath in order to work.

And Work it did, effectively and quickly. Wasting no more time, Sesshoumaru roused his youki and set to brushing and caressing it along Kagome's nerve endings until she was writhing and whining in unconscious need for something he would not allow himself to grant. One clawed hand over her belly kept her in place while the other worked to ease his personal discomfort with the situation the youkai lord found himself in.

He worked her up fast, ruthlessly driving the former shikon miko to the penultimate pleasure of orgasm thus claiming her health for his own. Efforts rewarded with a gasping sob, Sesshoumaru achieved his objective and promptly ordered Kagome's body to rest as long as was sufficient to fix the damage done by this and other previous difficulties.

Mere seconds saw the female's body temperature returned to normal assuring the inu of his belated success.

Sesshoumaru levered himself out of the spring and swiftly dried and dressed himself before returning to last night's shelter for the rest of the evening. Time had passed swiftly while he dealt with her mourning ritual, the wish and its unexpected fall out. The shadows were lengthening peacefully and he desired to hunt before night completely enclosed them in its darkness.

He had little doubt that all the things she had always needed were things she would now be able to do without just because of a little wish. The human body was an inefficient system for a living vessel. Perhaps he could see to it that hers increased its ability to maintain health, strength and life.

Hn, there were still a few days left before his miko's deadline was up. Sesshoumaru would see what could be done to restore her to all the healthful glory he remembered of former days. After the deadline, he intended her energies be spent on efforts to conceive. He could now tell her body to produce a full youkai pup and have it do so, eliminating yet another of her issues with their impending mating. He would also prevent her death to old age, eliminating yet another.

Sesshoumaru had no doubt she would still insist he partake in the raising of his pups, but now she would personally be around to insure he did it right.

It was probably risky to force her to conceive so shortly after changing her body with the Shikon wish. He should really wait until he knew the ramifications to her health and what would be needed to maintain her the way he desired, but the drive to procreate was far greater than his sense, newly awakened as it was and directed solely at this particular female who was well within reach. There was no holding back from it.

Just as well, she would need the distraction from her anger and possible shame. Sesshoumaru may feel she had no need to feel sad over the past day's events, but he acknowledged that she probably would anyway. The hardship of bearing a pup would reduce the time she could dwell on such negative feelings. And he would see to it that the other reasons for negative feelings soon felt the ire of one righteously angry expectant father. Inuyasha was going down and Rin would find herself receiving the carefully wielded edge of his tongue should she move to insult Kagome again.

Carefully arranging the miko in a mix of his fur and articles of her clothing, Sesshoumaru rebuilt the fire from before he posted a barrier over the cave mouth and set out to hunt up some meat for his captive female. She would wake eventually and need nourishment. And hopefully, after speaking to her about what the wish really entailed, she would be more receptive to mating.

Sesshoumaru was really impatient to taste of his miko again, fully and with her absolute consent. It was more than the season, a scent in the air, or the instinctive drive to fill her with his pup. He needed to reassure himself that his perfect wish hadn't done any more damage he'd failed to account for. He desperately required that Kagome prove to him that she was still herself despite the jewel's influence.


End file.
